Monitoring low levels of formaldehyde in ambient air

Palas, leading developer and manufacturer of high-precision devices for the generation, measurement and characterization of particles in the air, launched the AQ Guard series for measuring indoor and outdoor pollution.

Vlaams Milieu Maatschappij, the Belgian Air Quality Monitoring authority for the Flanders region (VMM – www.vmm.be) has chosen to work with Envicontrol for monitoring ozone (O3). Twenty T400 analysers from TAPI will be supplied starting early 2022.

The Mini Micro Pulse LiDAR (MiniMPL) is a small form factor, low-power, elastic backscatter lidar. The instrument is a ground-based, optical, remote-sensing system designed to determine the altitude of clouds and to detect atmospheric aerosols.

After more than 10 years of experience in mercury trace gas monitoring with Tekran devices, ISSeP (Institut Scientifique de Service Public - Belgium), has renewed his confidence in the product by buying the new Tekran 2537X. This analyser, based on gold preconcentration with atomic fluorescence detection principle, measures the total gaseous mercury (TGM) with a sensitivity lower than 0.1 ng/m3.

The CAPS-DPOL is a multipurpose, research-grade cloud spectrometer that includes three Droplet instruments (CIP, LWC, and CAS), temperature and relative humidity sensors and polarization measurement to discriminate between water and ice.

Formaldehyde, chemical formula HCHO or CH2O, is a colorless gas with a pungent odor. Levels above 0.1 ppm can cause allergy and acute health problems, e.g. sore throat, skin irritation, nausea, scratchy eyes and cough. Formaldehyde (HCHO) is also classified as highly carcinogenic compound. Exposure to moderate amounts of HCHO has been linked to cancer, such as leukemia.

Stable isotopes act as tracers for studying flows and fluxes of material through ecosystems and the atmosphere. In practice, scientists measure the stable carbon isotope content of air, plants and soil to quantify many phenomena including the recycling of carbon dioxide within forests, water use efficiency, partitioning ecosystem carbon exchange into its components, gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration, and to identify and quantify the distribution and contributions of plant species to global productivity. In addition, stable isotopes of carbon may be used to determine the effectiveness of carbon sequestration strategies. For these studies, investigators require fast, accurate measurements over a wide range of carbon dioxide concentrations.

ABB LGR-ICOS Carbon Dioxide Isotope analyzers exceed all of these requirements.

Droplet's CCN-100/200 measures the count and size of individual aerosol particles that can form into cloud droplets. Its fast response time allows use in either airborne or ground-based stations.