Micro-GC As a Portable Monitor for Dump Gases

The targets of dump monitoring are twofold: O2, CO2 and CH4 to maximise the production of CH4 and amines, mercaptanes, aldehydes, acids to keep the smell under control. The most common instruments are optical or electrochemical: compact, quick and easy to use, but they are poorly selective and subject to interferences. Microgaschromatographs separate the air sample reducing interferences, can measure a wide range of compounds and are quick enough thank to micro instrumental components.
The micro-GCs are often big, as they require battery, gas canister and a laptop PC and their software can be used only by a trained technician. The Vega-GC by Pollution SpA is engineered for the field. It is compact, lightweight and ergonomic, and it incorporates gas canister, battery and PC with a touch-screen as user interface.
The software is so user-friendly that any worker can use it, and it identifies any strange result, so that the user can repeat the measure or call the technician.
The latter is required only to setup the analytical method (instrumental parameters, calibration and alarm thresholds) and maybe review the automatically stored data. Vega-GC gives very accurate results (determining many components with no interference) and reduced costs (requiring no specialised personnel to perform the analysis).