Portable FTIR gas analyser is being used by a former coal analysis laboratory to confirm flue emissions of various industries in the valleys
Anchem Laboratories was founded 18 years ago, originally to provide a coal analysis service to the mines of south Wales.
The company has diversified to reflect the huge changes in the industrial landscape of the region, and is now UKAS accredited to provide a comprehensive service to the varied industries located there, including asbestos monitoring, chemical analysis and emissions monitoring.
Many of its clients operate under individual authorisations from the local authority or Environment Agency based on their specific processes, and require periodic confirmation that their flue emissions conform to the license conditions.
Anchem chose the Gasmet Dx-4000, a portable FTIR gas analyser from Quantitech, which can continuously and accurately monitor up to 50 different components simultaneously and so could provide the necessary flexibility.
The needs of two typical clients, one a titanium finishing plant and the other an aluminium smelter, illustrate the diversity of measurements required.
In the first case, traces of HF down to 10mg/m3 along with HNO3-, NO2, N-2-O, and NO must be measured, while in the second it is H2SO4 and HCl from fluxes and CO, CO2, and nitrogen oxides from the furnaces.
The direct reading, simultaneous detection system of the Dx-4000 means that one-minute means of emission concentrations can be obtained instead of the half-hour means that would be the best achievable with laborious extractive methods.
According to David White, Anchem's air emissions specialist, the ability of the Dx-4000 to provide retrievable information is one of the great benefits of the FTIR principle. "Even if we have not been looking for a particular component, because it's FTIR the data is all there and can be logged and extracted later if needed.
The applications support from Quantitech in this regard has been excellent."
