Peracetic acid (PAA) is an extremely strong oxidizer widely used in the food industry for disinfection of piping systems and processing equipment.  It is also used for spray washing of food products, and for disinfection of cooling water systems.  As a disinfecting agent, PAA is often preferred because it produces no harmful breakdown products.

As with any disinfection system, maintaining proper residual values is the key to effective pathogen control.  To facilitate reliable chemical feed control, ATI has developed an on-line water quality monitor cable of providing real time measurement of low levels of PAA in solution.  The Q46/85 Peracetic Acid Monitor uses a direct sensing polarographic probe.  The probe is typically used in a flowcell, but a submersible sensor is also available.  A permeable diffusion membrane isolates the sensing electrodes from the measured sample, providing long-term stability without electrode fouling problems. The measurement is selective for PAA and is not affected by changes in hydrogen peroxide concentration, which is always present in PAA solutions.