Ammonia measurement in the atmosphere made easy

A cutting edge device which can detect levels of ammonia in the atmosphere in a fraction of the time taken by traditional methods has been unveiled to the scientific community

With this particular greenhouse gas becoming ever more of an environmental issue, finding new and improved ways to trace ammonia is proving to be increasingly important to those carrying out research.

With this in mind, Stroud-based air quality monitoring specialists Enviro Technology took a Picarro ultra sensitive trace gas analyser to an exhibition (Air Analysis: Out of the Laboratory and Into the Field) held on May 15th at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, Middlesex, to demonstrate its main benefits.

Scientists used to highly technical, laboratory-based equipment which take a team of specialists to operate were impressed by how easy the Picarro is to set up, as well as its sensitivity.

With a five-second resolution and a range of one to 500 ppb, the analyser is the latest in air quality monitoring technology.

Limitations with traditional analysers meant users in the field could previously only obtain ammonia readings every ten minutes.

Using Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy, a laser-based optical technique that's highly sensitive and reliable, the Picarro analyser can take a reading every five seconds - making fast response research possible.

Enviro Technology operations director Duncan Mounsor says: "People were very impressed by the Picarro five-second gas analysis capabilities and by its ease of operation".

It is literally a case of getting the analyser out of the box and powering it up, and within minutes it is giving readings of the levels of ammonia - a substance notoriously difficult to work with.

"As the sole distributors of this analyser in the UK and Ireland, we're proud to again be at the forefront of such advances in technology".

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