Patent ID: 7772009

Claim:
A method for monitoring at least one water treatment chemical in an industrial water system, the method comprising: irradiating a liquid sample from the industrial water system with light from an excitation light source, the liquid sample containing the at least one water treatment chemical to be monitored and at least one room temperature phosphorescent material (RTPM), the water treatment chemical and the RTPM both having been previously added to the industrial water system in a known proportion to one another; the liquid sample including at least one heavy atom perturber (HAP) dissolved therein at a concentration sufficient to induce phosphorescence activity in the RTPM; the liquid sample being irradiated in a manner sufficient to induce the RTPM present within the sample to emit room temperature phosphorescence; detecting the room temperature phosphorescence emitted from the sample after irradiation; and calculating the concentration of the at least one water treatment chemical being monitored from the detected room temperature phosphorescence and the known proportion of the RTPM to the water treatment chemical.