LGR Introduces New Device to Monitor Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Los Gatos Research (LGR) has launched a new device for monitoring the methods of industrial combustion for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions conformity, in detail. Main combustion products such as oxygen, water vapour, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide can be measured accurately and simultaneously through the industrial emissions analyzer (IEA).

The new device was introduced in response to the EPA’s first detailed survey of GHGs released from main industrial units in the United States.

Every gas is measured separately by IEA with zero crosstalk among the four elements, or with additional trace gases like unburned hydrocarbons. Automated operation, rugged packaging and Ethernet connection are featured in this IEA, making it suitable for convenient operation and also for unmanned, remote operations over long period of time in remote sites. Currently, two models are provided. One is a standard model with less than 1% of total uncertainty, and second is an enhanced performance (EP) version with less than 0.03% of total uncertainty of exact mole fractions in the complete range of operating temperatures.

The IEA corrects for spectroscopic effects and water vapor dilution. Hence, it directly reports O₂, CO₂ and CO, based on a dry mole without drying. This is different from other standard technologies, wherein these measurements are not provided without sample pretreatment. A high dynamic range is provided by the new IEA for all four gases.

The off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) technology forms the basis of LGR precision gas analyzers. This fourth generation OA-ICOS technology is a cavity-enhanced laser absorption method. This unique method is more accurate and more rugged, when compared to previous cavity-enhanced methods like cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS), as the OA-ICOS technology’s performance does not require sub nanometer stability or ultra-precise alignment of the optics.

Dr. Doug Baer, LGR President, stated that the new IEA was specially designed to enhance manufacturing efficiencies in a number of industries such as refineries, power plants, chemical production plants, and other GHG emitters. Consistent monitoring of such energy intensive industries cannot be attained through self-reporting and calculation, and reliable measurements will prove useful in such situations.