TCR Tecora DECS monitors dioxins and furans

Quantitech has introduced the TCR Tecora DECS continuous dioxin sampling system.

Dioxins and furans are micro-pollutants that result from processes involving incineration.

These include waste incinerators, steel mills, metal-processing facilities and 'waste to energy' plants.

Because of their lipophilic properties (they are persistent in fatty tissue), dioxins and furans accumulate in humans and wildlife.

They are teratogens (cause congenital malformations), mutagens (cause genetic mutation) and suspected human carcinogens.

World-wide concern relating to these toxic micro-pollutants has grown in recent years, largely as a result of the proximity of incinerators to populated areas or to areas of food production.

The EU Commission recommendation is a maximum daily intake of two-picograms of dioxins and furans per kilo of human mass.

Dioxins and furans are produced in emissions at concentrations at the picogram per cubic-metre level in well-managed waste incinerators, but can exist in nanograms per cubic-metre in the emissions of large steel mills.

As a result of these low concentrations, it is not currently possible to continually measure dioxin emissions in real-time.

It is therefore necessary to sample over a period of hours and subsequently to analyse the collected sample with a high-resolution gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS).

The emissions-monitoring requirement varies between different countries, but is generally required for processes that have the potential to release these compounds.

The prescribed monitoring requirement is usually to sample for around eight-hours twice yearly, or more often if the process presents a higher level of risk.

The new TCR Tecora DECS continuous dioxin sampling system is MCERTS approved and available from Quantitech in the UK.

It provides regulators with samples that represent total-process dioxin emissions over much longer periods - up to one month.

The DECS provides emissions data that is far more informative and therefore of much greater value to regulators and the public.

The sampling unit is permanently installed on a stack and operates automatically, which means that less labour is involved in the sampling process.

The procedure is fully automatic, meaning there is less opportunity for error and operators do not need to be highly trained experts.

TCR Tecora claims that, as a permanently installed fixture, the DECS is less costly than occasional sampling.

Furthermore, a control unit installed onsite can operate up to four samplers and thereby reduce the costs per stack even further.

Remote access is available via the internet or intranet.

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