Responding to global demand for improved monitoring of nitrate in freshwater, OTT HydroMet has launched a new optical nitrate sensor, the OTT ecoN.
“This is fantastic news for scientists, catchment managers, water companies, regulators and environmental consultants,” says Ronan O'Maitiu from OTT HydroMet. “In the past, customers have been caught between low-cost/limited-performance sensors and high-end technologies, for which purchase costs prevent large scale deployment. The OTT ecoN neatly fills that gap; as a continuous nitrate monitor, with minimal maintenance requirements, it can be left to monitor in remote locations, and an optional wiper makes it suitable for extended deployments.”
In addition to a low purchase cost, the ecoN also lowers the cost of ownership because it is factory calibrated for life. As an optical sensor, the ecoN provides high accuracy and low resolution without the drift and interferences of ion-selective electrodes, or the ongoing reagent and maintenance costs of wet-chemistry analyzers.
Summarising, Ronan says: “Nitrate is an extremely important contaminant of freshwater, and the ecoN has proven extremely accurate and reliable in the field, so it has been priced for extensive deployment, and we are very excited with the prospects for this technology.”
