Multi-Component FTIR Gas Analyser for Continuous Measurement of ppm to % vol in a Portable or Mobile Form

Protea’s atmosFIRt transportable multigas analyser system represents one of the most cost-effective and flexible analytical products in today’s market. At the heart of atmosFIRt is a high-resolution, robust and proven FTIR spectrometer, offering high signal throughput, low noise and long lifetime components. This analyser has been developed to incorporate the latest improvements and advantages in technology, including:

• Low cost of ownership — low maintenance.
• Robust and light, using the latest fabrication materials.
• atmosFIRt combines an FTIR analyser with an in-built sampling system and is designed to operate down to ppm level emissions monitoring, as a portable or benchtop unit.
• atmosFIRt is provided in a rugged transportable case for mobile site measurements as well.
   

With mobile FTIR equipment, site work often involves the investigation and understanding of emissions or process vents. With atmosFIRt the ability to measure complex mixtures down to low concentrations is available with its high-resolution features. However, the real benefit is its variable resolution, so if there is the need for measuring at 4 ^cm-1 or 8 ^cm-1 resolution, the atmosFIRt can be set to these resolutions with a simple setting in the included software. No hardware changes would be required.

Using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) analysers for stack gas emissions provides a powerful analytical technique that is able to identify and quantify a large number of species from common combustion process pollutants such as CO, NO_x and SO₂ through to complex organic compounds.

This multi-component, multi-range portable FTIR gas analyser measures thousands of gases, with the software offering no limit on the number of gas measurements at once, due to its powerful algorithms. Data can be downloaded and re-analysed offline for new gases. The system includes an integral O₂ sensor, heated inlet filter and sampling control.

Protea’s Analyser Software (PAS) is the standard data acquisition and analysis package for laboratory and mobile field measurements of FTIR data. As a data collection system, it has all the functionality required for research-level FTIR analysis.

As well as collecting FTIR data, PAS allows for connection to Protea’s sampling system control electronics. This monitors and controls sample cell temperature and pressure, provides control for purge valves to the instrument and also relays, digital and analogue I/O to external devices.

Models can be span corrected to match reference gas cylinders and linearity checks can be made for conformance with performance standards. When defining analysis methods, PAS also allows for model switching on constants or other variables; for example, two chemometric models can be built over different ranges, one 0–100 ppm and one 100–1000 ppm. PAS will automatically switch and use the most suitable model for the concentration mix. Analysis summaries provide in-depth statistical tests on chemometrics — range, max; absorption peaks, max; residual noise equivalence tests, etc.

In summary, the FTIR technique offers great advantages over traditional sampling techniques because it is a continuous and sensitive tool capable of measuring individually a large number of inorganic and organic compounds in emission gases. FTIR means it is possible to provide real-time, continuous measurements rather than the single averaged values that the manual chemistry techniques give. FTIR provides a powerful technique for studying new plant and processes, helping in the optimisation of production and reduction of emissions to atmosphere. For example, FTIR is ideal for monitoring batch chemical processes, as continuous FTIR monitoring can track discontinued or varying emissions, plus the technology’s capability to measure multiple components makes it suitable for many different plants and different reactions. This makes it possible to consider emissions reduction approaches to operations.

For more information: http://www.groupinstrumentation.com.au/media/15589/pd-131%20atmosfirt.pdf.