Clean water is crucial to both human health and natural ecosystems, and equally critical are the technologies that enable utilities all over the world to ensure the quality of drinking water.
Japanese firm Horiba is among the companies that have contributed to environmental protection since it began selling pH meters in 1951 and gas analyzers in 1957.
Today, the Tokyo-listed firm is a measurement and analysis equipment manufacturer that offers a range of products that help organisations monitor the environment effectively.
To showcase its diverse technologies, Horiba hosted an exhibition booth at the Singapore International Water Week 2016 held last week from July 10 to 14, which allowed visitors to discover the various practical applications of its inventions.
The well-known and respected Japanese manufacturer has a long history of producing innovative products in water management.
Horiba’s sales manager of water quality instruments, Selvan Savuntharanayagam, said the company pioneered Asia’s first pH meter in 1950 and has also launched other world firsts such as 0.001 pH resolution, Colour LCD panel meter, and flat glass sensors for measuring pH, nitrate, potassium, calcium as well as sodium.
Its product range can currently cover environmental water monitoring for lakes and rivers as well as in monitoring wastewater plants.
The company also offers a full line-up of equipment for water quality analysis for water infrastructures such as purification plants and sewage treatment plants.
Horiba’s booth at SIWW 2016 focused on three products: its HC-200NH ammonia nitrogen meter, LAQUA series of water quality instruments, and the PX-375 continuous particulate mass monitor with X-ray fluorescence.
The HC-200NH Ammonium meter is an industrial process water quality analyser that was created based on three principles: resilience, intelligence, as well as ease of maintenance.
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The firm is committed to contribute to environmental improvement by providing Southeast Asian countries with high-quality technologies in water quality measurement.
Kenny Tan, sales manager of Horiba’s process and environmental division, explained that the ammonium meter is known for its toughness and strong tolerance of dirt due to the protection film on the sensor membrane as well as for its ability to be attached with an ultrasonic cleaner for extended user maintenance.
The LAQUA series of water quality instruments has become especially attractive to customers due to its ion parameters (nitrate, potassium, calcium, sodium, pH, etc.), while also being compact in size, easy to use and requiring only low sampling, he added.
Meanwhile, the PX-375 continuous particulate mass monitor with X-ray fluorescence drew the most attention at the fair due to its ability to “operate as a single particulate monitor (field- portable or fixed type) or integrated with other gases analyser as an ambient monitoring quality monitoring system”, said Johnson Khor from Horiba.
While these products form the backbone of Horiba’s efforts in water quality control, the company is also looking for new opportunities for collaboration on water technologies.
For instance, in Singapore where Horiba has been operating since 1985, the company is aiming to continue to work closely together with the government sector such as the National Environment Agency and the Public Utilities Board, as well as various research institutions such as those in the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University, to further improve water quality control technologies and provide new solutions.
The firm is committed to contribute to environmental improvement by providing Southeast Asian countries with high-quality technologies in water quality measurement, said Savuntharanayagam.
