Intelligent conductivity, pH, and ORP electrodes for pure water treatment

Industry:Pharmaceutical, Supporting

Application fields:Preparation of Ultra Pure Water

Hamilton products:Conducell UPW Arc TC 1.5',

Polilyte Plus Arc PHI 120, Polilyte Plus Arc ORP 120,FlexiFit TC

The term ultrapure water (UPW) is commonly used in many industries. Every industry uses so-called ultrapure water, but the quality standards vary. This means that the UPW used in power plants is different from the UPW used in semiconductor factories or the pharmaceutical industry.

Therefore, many organizations have developed and released standards related to UPW production, namely ASTM (D5127) for the electronics and semiconductor industries, EPRI for power plants, and USP, EP, and JP for the pharmaceutical industry. Although the standards are different, the application scenarios may be similar.

For example, UPW is used as a cleaning or rinsing agent in semiconductor factories and the pharmaceutical industry. UPW also has other uses in the pharmaceutical industry, such as ingredients in its final products or steam generation for sterilization.

Therefore, it must not only have extremely low particles, silica, non-volatile residues, but also be free of microorganisms, viruses, and endotoxins.

In order to meet the specifications mentioned in the pharmacopoeia, water undergoes multiple steps of treatment: pre-treatment stage to produce purified water; The primary stage aims to further purify water; And the fine processing stage. The fine processing stage is a set of processing steps, typically involving the recycling of water quality. Traditionally, it is electrical resistivity, and the conductivity of water is an indicator of the purity of ultrapure water.

Conductivity measurement is a common indicator of ion pollution, often caused by the penetration of depleted ion exchangers. UPW is also easily contaminated by trace amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through small leaks. Carbon dioxide forms conductive carbonate or bicarbonate ions, as well as hydrogen ions, in water.

Therefore, it is necessary to insert conductivity sensors into the main ultrapure water system to monitor pollution in real time

Figure 1: pH and ORP measurements in pre treated water.

Figure 2: Control system for pure water production process.

Figure 3: Measurement of UPW conductivity at the outlet of the storage tank after reverse osmosis treatment.

CIFA Group is renowned for its engineering, design, installation, and maintenance of purified water facilities and injection water (WFI) circulation systems. Their processing systems are widely used in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food industries.

CIFA can not only manufacture processing systems, but also automate all equipment through Profinet. For this reason, CIFA is looking for a sensor that can be easily integrated by providing reliable digital signals directly to the process control system.

Configure through RS485 interface, provide different addresses for each sensor, and download configuration documents for each sensor. This allows for copying sensor configurations and storing all sensor data.

Another benefit of Arc technology is that it no longer requires bulky external transmitters, allowing for the use of smaller electrical cabinets and increasing their utilization. In addition, using the ArcAir application for Bluetooth communication with smartphones and tablets, Arc sensors can be upgraded through a wireless adapter.

Arc sensors provide highly reliable measurements, and the certificates accompanying the sensors make Hamilton the preferred supplier for CIFA's pH, ORP, and conductivity measurements.

Author: Cheng Yingwen

Cristian Hernández

Service Manager

Company

CONSULTATION AND INSTALLATIONS

FARMACÉUTICAS Y ALIMENTARIAS S.L.Spain

www.cifa.es

translation

Chen Moying (Technical Support from Hamilton Switzerland)