Fenceline Monitoring

CRDS for Fenceline Pollution Monitoring

Governments around the globe are subjecting industrial emissions to increasing regulation either for worker safety, to maintain air quality for nearby residents, or as part of larger (national and international) pollution reduction strategies and protocols. This requires the ability to monitor these pollutants at key field locations, including along pipelines, at factory perimeters and even along rooflines. A specific example is to monitor the roof space in aluminum smelting plants. Here, HF (hydrogen fluoride) is a corrosive, highly toxic, direct byproduct released from the reduction cells that must be actively filtered from the plant headspace. Likewise, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to monitor ambient, beyond-the-fenceline formaldehyde concentration levels in the near future.

Picarro CRDS analyzers are well suited to these applications because of their ability to measure such gases at ppt levels and beyond. With few moving parts, and high resistance to corrosion, they can operate in unmanned remote monitoring locations for months at a time with no need for recalibration or any other maintenance. CRDS can also play a key role in more complex chemical pollutants. In the case of organic molecules for example, including carcinogenic aromatics, our CRDS CO₂ and CO₂ isotope analyzers can be used in conjunction with controlled combustion for TOC (total organic carbon) analysis.