Patent ID: 7402192

Claim:
Method for continuous processing of industrial wastewater that may contain various contaminants, according to which the wastewater is introduced by at least one feed line into a stripper column in which it flows by gravity, a flow of water vapor is injected into the column at a level such that the wastewater and the water vapor circulate in counter-current in the column, the gases extracted by the vapor stripping of the wastewater are recovered at the column head, and at the base of the stripper column the treated water is evacuated, the method comprising: determining on line at least a portion of the ultraviolet spectrum of compounds present in one or the other of the at least one feed line or the treated water evacuated from the column, wherein the compounds are selected from the group consisting of sulfides, ammonium hydroxide, and phenols, and the determining on line is made on an aqueous portion of a sample, after separation from its organic phase; mathematically processing measured intensities and thereby determining qualitatively and quantitatively at least one contaminant product present in the samples taken; and depending on results thus obtained, and by comparison to previously defined set points, retrieving information in the form of electrical signals that control the flow rates of the wastewater and water vapor feeds in the stripper column.