Development of a multidetector petroleum oil in water monitor

A prototype petroleum oil-in-water monitoring system that continuously measures oil (whether free, suspended, dissolved, or emulsified) in water carrying a variety of potential interfering substances was developed. An extensive desk-top survey of commercially available oil monitors was carried out. Three devices were selected for thorough laboratory evaluation: (1) Sigrist Fluorescence Monitor Model FLJ, (2) CE Invalco D.O.W. Monitor, and (3) Horiba OCMA-25 Oil Content Monitor. The construction of a flow loop and its operation, the installation of the selected detectors in the breadboard system, the development of a data retrieval system, the calibration methodology employed, the initial checkout of the detectors, and the extensive multidetector evaluation of each detector's performance for quantifying petroleum oil in the presence of impurities and other interferents are described.