CUAS and DB Sediments Develop DDMD

Cologne University of Applied Science (CUAS) and DB Sediments have introduced an innovative, highly accurate density measurement device for hetero and homogeneous liquid-solid mixtures.

The density measurement of hetero and homogeneous liquid-solid mixtures plays a crucial role in various fields of engineering, such as dredging, mining, waste-water treatment industry, biogas facilities and sediment monitoring.

Common methods – such as Coriolis and radiometric mass flow meter – for measuring the density of both, hetero and homogeneous liquid-solid mixtures are expensive and may be of unknown accuracy due to the large spatial and temporal variability, associated with the transport of particles and gas in the mass flow.

DB Sediments and the Laboratory of Water and Environment (LWU) of Cologne University of Applied Science developed the Discontinuous Density Measurement Device (DDMD), a robust auto sampling density measurement device for the liquid-solid mixtures.

The method is based on the principle of a pycnometer: the DDMD determines the density by measuring the weight of a sample over a known volume within a container.

This method has been developed for an automated discontinuous sampling (measurement cycle takes about 30 seconds) and the patented design of the container guarantees a highly accurate density measurement (accuracy of 0.33 g/L).

The DDMD has proven to be a simple, safe, robust and cost efficient density measurement device, which can be applied in various technological fields.