Industrial Air Pollution - Perimeter Monitoring
Industrial operators use our outdoor air quality monitors to manage emissions on their perimeter, which helps them improve relationships with regulators and communities.
Manage emissions on the perimeter
Operators in the mining, power, petrochemical, construction, and bulk handling industries, are under increasing pressure to mitigate their impact on the surrounding environment. Modern air quality regulation is shifting the burden from publicly funded monitoring to monitoring funded by industry (with public oversight). This means responsible industrial site operators must look to private air monitoring networks to protect communities and meet regulatory standards.
Correctly verifying industrial air pollution levels can be difficult and expensive
Industrial facilities are often clustered together and served by busy transport corridors. If an industrial air pollution problem exists it can often be blamed on the industrial facility rather than on some other factor. Even if other factors can be isolated, the wrong facility might get the blame. Industrial companies can rely on the local air quality monitoring network (if there is one) or invest in their own equipment. But ambient pollution monitoring equipment has traditionally been prohibitively expensive for most companies.
A lower cost alternative for monitoring industrial perimeters
Our solutions for industrial fence-line monitoring offer a genuine alternative to traditional, high-cost ambient air quality monitoring systems. We make accurate and affordable instruments which give warnings in real-time, are simple to maintain, and can be quickly deployed and re-deployed. By calibrating and cross-referencing to reference analyzers, the integrity of the air quality data is assured.
Flexible tools for ambient pollution monitoring
Our product range spans portable (handheld) monitors for checking pollution hot spots and conducting short term surveys, through to compact air quality monitoring stations for mobile, semi-permanent and permanent monitoring. These instruments can be configured to log real time data on a range of gas, particulate, noise and weather parameters. Data can be accessed remotely via any wireless device, anywhere, any time.
“The integrated nature of the AQM 60 ensured that the study objectives were met at a relatively low cost.”
AngloGold Ashanti
Case studies
Case Study - Industrial Hygiene
World-Class Crusher Quarry Uses PM Monitoring to Achieve Regulatory Compliance
Case Study - Industrial Hygiene
Argentina's National Energy Company Uses Wireless Air Quality Monitoring to Build Community Trust
Case Study - Industrial Hygiene
Real-Time Dust Monitoring Helps Protect Surrounding Community, Optimize Productivity at Quarry
Mining & Quarrying
Mines and quarries are caught between a rock and a hard place. Even as demand for minerals and aggregates increases, environmental controls make it harder than ever to increase or expand production. Typically, any new permit will require a period of air quality monitoring before, after, and sometimes during the development phase.
Dust and particulate matter is of primary concern for regulators. In some cases, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and / or sulphur dioxide might also be of interest. These gaseous pollutants are generated by heavy vehicles and other combustion sources such as diesel generators. Methane can be a factor too, especially in coal mines.
The problem for operators is that air monitoring equipment is expensive to buy and to operate. A complete monitoring station to measure particulate, a couple of gases, and wind speed and direction can cost more than a new wheeled-loader. Traditional monitoring stations are too big to easily shift between locations and require a lot of power.
To solve these challenges, Aeroqual has developed lighter-weight and lower-cost air monitoring solutions such as the Dust Sentry and AQM 65 compact air quality stations. By using sensors rather than analyzers they are a fraction of the cost and can be set up and knocked down in no more than an hour.
Petrochemicals
The petrochemical industry around the world has invested heavily in the use of integrated pollution control equipment both upstream and downstream. Such is the nature of the processes needed to generate useful fuel that despite these controls, emissions can and do persist.
The only way to accurately demonstrate the effectiveness of pollution control inside the facility is to monitor emissions on the perimeter (or fence-line). Numerous studies have shown the benefits (both to the operator and to the community) of having an ongoing real-time perimeter monitoring network. These benefits include:
Providing an independent reference point for impact on surrounding ambient air
Giving the operator a chance to respond to events before they become a problem
Optimizing pollution control and abatement practices within the facility
Inventory of CO2 and other GHG emissions
Despite these benefits, few petrochemical facilities have been able to easily afford a dedicated fence-line monitoring network. Continuous air monitoring stations can cost upwards of US$250,000 each and a network surrounding a facility should at minimum include three stations.
Aeroqual’s compact air monitoring station represents a new approach, one that delivers the known benefits of fence-line monitoring while also being economically viable for industry. As a result, our growing list of project references includes some of the industry’s giants (Petrobras, PetroChina, YPF).
“Having access to the air quality data has helped to calm the concerns of the local community.”
YPF
Industrial perimeter monitoring made easy
Help improve relationships with regulators and communities.