A Breath of Fresh Air

Monitors that identify air-pollution sources enable industry and governments to act appropriately to improve health, compliance and public confidence. However, some existing monitors lack directional information, making it difficult to distinguish pollution sources. Lancaster researchers have invented a simple monitor that resolves wind directions and so identifies pollution sources and trends.

The research team of Professors Duncan Whyatt, Kevin Jones and Roger Timmis brought together expertise in pollution sampling and spatial analysis along with expertise in end-users’ needs from the Environment Agency (EA). This research resulted in two patents for passive (unpowered) directional samplers of air quality. These cover a range of pollutants including nitrogen dioxide (traffic), fugitive particles (steelworks), benzene (refineries), dusts (waste and recycling processes) and ammonia (intensive farming). The samplers have been patented internationally and exclusively licensed to SGS Galson for commercial applications.

• Lancaster’s samplers were deployed at the Harsco Metals and Tarmac/Lafarge sites adjoining Scunthorpe Steelworks and raised site operators’ awareness of dust issues, leading to the adoption of new management strategies. The EA site inspector confirmed an 80% reduction in the total dust signal. A risk of fines of £30 million from the EU was avoided.
• Lancaster’s novel methods featured in a report by DEFRA’s Air Quality Expert Group. The EA also used the methods to investigate dust complaints at the European Metal Recycling works in Newhaven, East Sussex.
• US Environmental Protection Agency legislation (EPA325) requires fence-line monitoring of the carcinogen benzene. SGS are the world’s leading inspection and certification company and read about the success at Scunthorpe; they swiftly acquired exclusive licenses to both sampler patents and started manufacturing under the name ‘AIHR Shark’.
• There are about 180 oil refineries in the US and ‘Sharks’ have been deployed at the most problematic. Refineries must minimise on-site electrical equipment, so Lancaster’s unpowered DPAS technique was particularly suitable. Conventional sampling failed to identify the sources of emissions but ’Sharks’ pinpointed them after only 10 days. Operators called it “a simply genius technology”. SGS Galson highlight that the sampler has “yet to fail to identify an emission source to date”.
• The EPA 325 compliance monitoring market in the US is already worth several million dollars. This market value reflects the costs of non-compliance, as evidenced by a $4.64 million fine that the EPA served on Valero Energy in October 2020. Sharks have also been deployed at mining sites in the US.