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New Sensor Technology for Effective Environmental Monitoring
Three new sensor technologies allow the efficient monitoring of air pollution, and interface readily with standard environmental surveillance/ management systems.
An efficient and effective environmental strategy is an increasingly important part of a company's operations, particularly in the process industries. Regulatory requirements and consumer concerns exert considerable pressure on business to improve existing environmental standards, and legislative pressures are likely to grow. In many areas compliance with these regulatory and consumer requirements can be extremely costly, and the strategies chosen for environmental improvement and protection can have a profound impact on competitiveness.
TESS is developing three advanced sensor technologies, and integrating them into new, potentially commercially-exploitable systems which will make possible the gathering of timely and accurate information on emissions to air from a process plant. While the sensors can function independently, the TESS technologies are also complementary. The sensors are designed to interface readily with environmental monitoring systems, so as to form a cost-effective and reliable basis for environmental management.
Businesses, particularly in the process industries, can not afford to ignore environmental management. Legislative compliance and the good name of the company depend on it. Furthermore, good and efficient environmental management, especially in industries which use a lot of raw materials and energy, leads to very substantial cost savings. A common difficulty in environmental performance monitoring is the gathering of accurate and timely information. Current sensor technology can be 
very costly, and is often unreliable. TESS sensors, in conjunction with an environmental management system, will contribute to real time monitoring of air emissions, leading to improved environmental and production performance.
Three sensors were developed under TESS: a Gas Cloud Imager (GCI), a Semiconductor Gas Sensor (SGS) and a Photo-Acoustic Gas Sensor (PGS). Each is usable independently, but their features are complementary. For instance, the SGS is small, robust and self-diagnostic, but less discriminating than the PGS. By using them both together, the self-diagnostic SGS can be used to ensure that the more precise PGS is working. TESS has also developed a standard interface for integrating the instruments with an environmental management system, such as that developed under the esprit project TENPRO.
TESS technology is being tested at sites in the UK and Portugal, and proving very successful. The sensors require relatively little maintenance, and produce complementary, reliable, real-time data on air emissions on each site. A new company, Farside Technology, has been set up to exploit TESS technologies.
tel +44-1928-515-612 -- fax +44-1928-575-095
e-mail terry_wilkins@ici.co.uk
Roger Boom Farside Technology plc 35 London Road Slough SL3 7RP UKtel +44-1753-525-972 -- fax +44-1753-51922
e-mail rboom@bcs.org.uk
Research Area Integration in Manufacturing
Project TESS
Related Results TENPRO
Keywords environmental accounting; environmental management; sensors;
| Project Participants |
|---|
| Capteur UK |
| Chelsea Instruments UK |
| EdP |
| Endress & Hauser Conducta DE |
| ICI UK |
| MENTEC IR |
| Sieger UK |
| Sintef SI NL |
| University College London UK |
home page | Results Zone | IT Solutions | Application Areas | Research Areas | Integration into Manufacturing The URL for this page is /esprit/src/results/res_area/iim/iim23.htm
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