Project description
A viable laser-based approach to monitoring organic pollutants in the air
Air pollution poses an increasing threat to large cities, but monitoring volatile organic compounds and persistent organic pollutants using existing electrochemical or laser-based technologies is challenging. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CEMoS-OFC project plans to develop a new class of broadband and high-resolution laser spectrometers for open-path air monitoring. The instruments will leverage a pair of optical frequency comb sources that operate in the mid-infrared region, where volatile organic compounds and persistent organic pollutants have their signature absorption lines. Using this real-time computational signal enhancement method and eliminating the need for complex electronics, the project paves the way for practical measurements of multi-species gas mixtures over open-path channels spanning hundreds of metres.
Objective
Air pollution is an increasingly important concern in larger cities and industrial areas. To date, much attention has been devoted to monitoring of particulate matter (PM), yet sensing of toxic or cancerogenic gas species formed i.e. in combustion of low-quality fuels is still challenging. The new National Emissions Ceilings (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU) has set commitments for member states on several important air pollutants, of which two groups: non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are difficult to monitor using existing electrochemical or laser-based technologies to ensure sufficient sensitivity and selectivity. To address this need, the objective of this proposal is to develop a novel class of broadband and high-resolution laser spectrometers for open-path atmospheric monitoring. The instrument will exploit a pair od optical frequency comb (OFC) sources, which operate in the spectroscopically-relevant mid-infrared region where NMVOCs and POPs have their strongest and most unique absorption features. Unlike all prior attempts, this project aims to advance the field by enabling completely unstabilized operation of the sources using real-time computational signal enhancement referred to as Computationally Enhanced Molecular Sensing with Optical Frequency Combs (CEMOS-OFC). By generating two mutually coherent OFCs in a shared cavity, the need for complex phase synchronization electronics in dual-comb spectroscopy is eliminated, which paves the way for practical out-of-laboratory measurements of multi-species gas mixtures over open-path channels reaching hundreds of meters corresponding to part-per-million to parts-per-billion sensitivities. In addition to environmental gas sensing, spectroscopic analysis of simple algae and pharmaceuticals in the mid- to far-infrared region is also proposed.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyphycology
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryvolatile organic compounds
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
50-370 Wroclaw
Poland