MechChem Africa March-April 2022

Compact VEGAPULS 21 overcomes chromium overflow risk

Those responsible for handling chromium-containing process wastewater must take great care to prevent overflows in collecting tanks. Laurent Roumieux of Belgian water and wastewater service provider, ENGIE Solutions, talks about why his company chose the new VEGAPULS 21 compact radar level sensor to minimise this risk.

Chromium is not easy to handle because it is dangerous due to its possibleeffects onhealth and the environment. The collected chromic acid solutionhadbe stored in a double-walled HDPE tank to prevent leakage and thus envi- ronmental damage. Theplantwas also looking for a reliable measuring system to accurately track the level of the aggressive chromium solution in the tank. The tank capacity needed to be used to the fullest extent, but under no circumstances could the maximum safe level be exceeded. Until recently, ultrasonic technology was generally used for level measurement in wastewater treatment plants, basically for economic reasons. However, when VEGA launched a new sensor series based on radar measurement technology in early 2020, new perspectives opened up. The compact radar instrument VEGAPULS (Series 10, 20 and 30) are comparablewithultrasonic instruments in

terms of cost, but aremuchmore reliable and user-friendly.

VEGAPULS 21: Ideal for safety critical applications “I was looking for a level solution that would pose no risk to my employees,” explains Laurent Roumieux, team leader at ENGIE. “Up to that point we had been using an ultra- sonic measuring system, but I had installed a non-contact radar sensor on an HDPE tank filled with hydrochloric acid (HCl). My VEGA contact helped me to select the instrument and set it up. I was quite impressed because I was able to check the level just by mounting the sensor over the top of the HDPE tank. This solution was very simple and, above all, safe andworry-free. The sensor has provided reliable measurement data ever since it was put into operation.” Due to this positive experience, Roumieux

B elgian company, ENGIE Solutions, specialises in industrial wastewater treatment for reuse as drinking or process water. A large engineering company in the Liège regionof Belgiumasked ENGIE for help with its fluid treatment plant, which was taking care of the treatment of wastewater and other fluids from various processes. An especially difficult challenge was the chromium-containing wastewater coming from a process for treating the surfaces of metal parts. The chromium in the chromic acid solution first had to be extracted from the wastewater before the wastewater was sent for further treatment.

Via the VEGA Tools App, VEGAPuls21 sensors can be connected directly to smartphones. An intuitive user interface makes it easy to install, configure and put a sensor into operation. Users can then read the current level measurement and the sensor status at a glance.

4 ¦ MechChem Africa • March-April 2022