Down to the parts per trillion
CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE
The Enterprise
09/25/2003
PORT ARTHUR - Two environmentalists are requesting the installation of air monitoring systems with nearly instantaneous results at all refineries and chemical plants here.
Denny Larson of the Refinery Reform Campaign and Hilton Kelley of the Community Inpower and Development Association brought a monitor to Port Arthur on Wednesday to show what kind of monitor they want on refinery fence lines.
For more than three years, Kelley has been operating a "bucket brigade" with an air monitoring system in a plastic bucket that takes samples to send off for tests.
Larson said that because the UV Sentry Open Path Air Monitor has real time monitoring, it's possible to differentiate among emissions from cars, businesses and industries, Larson said.
"We're investigating putting in one ourselves," Larson said.
Larson said he wants this kind because it's simple to use and the results are instantaneously analyzed.
The system costs $45,000 or about $1,000 a week to rent, said Donald Gamiles, chief executive officer of Cerex Environmental Services, which produces the monitors.
The system beams light from one orange monitor to a mirror in the other, Gamiles said.
Each chemical blocks part of the light beam in a different way. Sensors scan the light beam for the blocked spots. The sensors translate the blocked spots into chemical levels, which are downloaded to a laptop computer.
The monitors, developed in the past three years, measure to parts per trillion for some chemicals and to parts per billion for all other chemicals, Gamiles said.
"We've worked with the EPA to make the data legally defensible where it can stand up in court," Gamiles said.
To demonstrate, a cotton swab dipped in toluene, a volatile organic chemical produced by refineries, was placed near the monitor. Within seconds, a graph on the computer screen showed a high reading of the chemical.
Gamiles said that other UV Sentry Open Path Air Monitor sites include an incinerator in Taiwan, a refinery in California and an environmental survey project in Tampa, Fla.
The South East Texas Regional Planning Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have been operating other air quality monitors scattered throughout Jefferson County for at least the past decade, officials said.
The South East Texas Regional Planning Commission operates seven monitors, said Bob Dickinson, director of transportation and environmental resources.
Three of the sites analyze the air for ozone and supply real time data to the commission, Dickinson said in a telephone interview.
Ozone can cause respiratory problems like asthma.
Air samples are taken every 12 days at five of the sites, including two that test for ozone, and sent to a lab for analysis for 54 different chemicals, Dickinson said.
The TCEQ operates 15 air-monitoring sites that test for up to five different chemicals, said Stuart Mueller, air safety manager.
Ozone and sulfur dioxide are analyzed in real time and other chemical data are sampled and taken to a lab, Mueller said.
Reach this reporter at:
(409) 833-3311, ext. 416
rappleye@beaumontenterprise.com
The Beaumont Enterprise, 2003
Story on the Beaumont Enterprise web site.
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