‘MCERTS’ Event Expanded to Become ‘AQE 2013’

The organisers of the highly successful MCERTS conferences have announced that the format of the next event will be considerably expanded. The focus on testing and monitoring will remain, but ambient air quality will be addressed in addition to environmental emissions and workplace exposure. As a result, the theme of the first day of the conference will be ambient air quality monitoring and the theme of the second day will be industrial emissions to air.

AQE 2013 (Air Quality & Emissions Show 2013) is the seventh in a series of specialist air monitoring events and will take place at the International Centre in Telford, UK, on 13th and 14th March. In common with the previous MCERTS events, AQE 2013 will also include 50 free walk-in/walk-out workshops and an exhibition featuring over 80 of the world’s leading organisations in air quality and emissions monitoring products and services.

Visitors to AQE 2013 are likely to come from a wide variety of sectors including central government, local authorities, industrial process operators, test houses, consultants, researchers, academics, instrument manufacturers, the media and anyone with a professional interest in air quality.

Event organiser Marcus Pattison believes that the expanded remit for the event is a logical progression. “The need to produce accurate, reliable emissions monitoring data is the same whatever the industrial process,” he says. "Furthermore, the technologies are invariably the same and the people responsible for emissions are often also responsible for all aspects of environmental monitoring, including workplace monitoring, ambient monitoring, leak detection, fugitive emissions, fenceline monitoring etc. So it makes a lot of sense for all of this to be brought together under one umbrella – AQE 2013.”

The Source Testing Association (STA) established the original MCERTS event with Environmental Technology Publications in 2002 and has organised every event since. The STA’s Dave Curtis is pleased with the plans for AQE 2013. He says, “The MCERTS events were ultimately about the protection of air quality, so it makes sense for AQE 2013 to have an expanded remit to include everybody with an interest in air quality and emissions monitoring.”

Emissions monitoring will remain one of the event’s central themes, but the addition of other applications for gas and particulate monitoring will substantially increase the scope and size of the event. For example, whilst the MCERTS events addressed the needs of those affected by the Environmental Permitting Regulations (large and/or complex industrial processes), AQE 2013 will also meet the needs of Local Authorities for ambient monitoring and for the many thousands of industrial processes that Local Authorities regulate.

AQE 2013 will also hold great appeal for international visitors, because in addition to an update on EU regulations, it will also provide an opportunity to see all of the latest technologies in air quality and emissions at one specialist event.

AQE 2013 Conferences

Reflecting the objective of the European Commissioner for the Environment, the AQE conference theme will be ‘2013 – Year of Air’ and many of the sector’s leading authorities on air quality have agreed to speak at the conference.

Day 1: Ambient Air Conference, 13th March (*recognised by IAQM for CPD)

Brian Stacey, speaking on behalf of Defra, will outline EU and UK air quality policy, followed by Prof. Frank Kelly from King’s College London, who will then discuss the future of air quality monitoring. He will discuss outline advances in sensor, data storage and communication technologies which have led to an expanding range of time resolved mobile sensors for air pollution, and how these sensors present an opportunity to make a step-change improvement in the quality, accuracy and scope of reliable exposure metrics for use in population studies, thereby helping to establish a more robust and targeted link between air pollution and negative health outcomes. Prof. Roy Harrison from Birmingham University will deliver a presentation in which he will explain how to gain added value from monitoring data by understanding air pollution processes. He will illustrate some of the scientific advances which have been derived from the analysis of routinely collected data and will cite examples including explanations of relative nitrogen dioxide and NOx concentrations, ultrafine particle emissions, sulphate concentrations and PM10. Emily Jarvis from SIRA will explain the role of instrument equivalence and MCERTS certification of continuous ambient air quality monitoring systems (CAMs) and Ruth Fain from Golder Associates will explain how Section 106 agreements (section 75 in Scotland) have successfully enabled air quality monitoring programmes to ensure that development does not have a detrimental effect on air quality. Ruth has direct experience of using the legislation and will be able to present examples of where it can be used.

 (*This conference has been recognised by the Institute of Air Quality Management as valuable Continuing Professional Development for its members and other air quality professionals).

Day 2: Process Emissions Conference, 14th March

Richard Vincent, Head of Industrial Pollution Control at Defra will explain the significance of the Industrial Emissions Directive with particular reference to the Directive’s prescriptions concerning best available techniques and their use in environmental permitting. Other speakers, including Rod Robinson from NPL and Carsten Roellig from TÜV will also cover European legislation, monitoring methods and standards, with particular emphasis placed on critical aspects such as uncertainty calculation, maintenance interval, correlation coefficient and assessment of changes to certified monitoring systems. Paul Wiggins, from the Environment Agency will then discuss Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA), which provides a systematic tool for auditing the monitoring provisions required by an operator’s permit by scoring the degree of risk. Odour is an increasing concern in many sectors and Nana Ampomah, also from the Environment Agency, will explain the role of odour management plans.

International Exhibition

The AQE 2013 exhibition (www.AQEshow.com) will be larger than previous events, with the inclusion of regulators, accreditation organisations, instrument manufacturers and software developers, test houses, laboratories, consultants, calibration gas providers and abatement equipment providers. In combination, the exhibitors, which will come from all over Europe, North America and Japan, will provide a comprehensive view of the latest products and services in the air quality sector.

Many of the exhibitors will launch new products at AQE 2013. For example, DustScan will launch a PM10 sampler which is a low-cost, battery-powered, gravimetric filter-reference device and Air Monitors will launch two new technologies that Managing Director Jim Mills says will change the face of air quality monitoring: “A new ambient monitoring technology AQMesh, will fill in the gaps that cannot be addressed by larger conventional stations, providing real-time spatial coverage over a wide area.

“We will also launch a new particulate monitoring technology ‘FIDAS’, which will complement the FDMS technology (which has recently passed TÜV tests proving EU equivalence for PM10 and PM2.5). FIDAS offers additional information on particle size distribution from 0.18 – 30 microns and particle number and mass in each size range.”

Air Products will launch a new range of multi-component ISO17025 gas mixtures including NO, SO2, CO and CO in Nitrogen. Turnkey Instruments will launch the fourth generation of its Site Compliance Monitor the CM3, for monitoring noise and vibration.

The Horiba stand will feature the new PG-350E portable gas analyser and Kisters will launch the latest version of AquisNet DAS – software for monitoring stations.

Sigma-Aldrich/Supelco will launch the new ASSET™EZ4-NCO Dry Sampler for isocyanate measurements in air. This sampler was developed in Sweden and complies with ISO 17734-1.

AQE Workshops

Over 50 workshops will be available during the event and whilst visitors will not have to reserve places; they will have to plan their visit carefully in order to ensure that they attend the most relevant workshops and conference presentations, whilst also allocating time to visit the exhibition. The workshops are designed to provide an informal environment in which environmental practitioners are able to share information, much of which involves practical case studies.

The workshop programme will cover a broad spectrum of subjects relating to the measurement of gases, volatiles, particulates and heavy metals within industrial processes, stack emissions and the ambient environment. The workshops will address the monitoring of every important parameter and new technologies will be described for a wide variety of monitoring applications.

Many of the exhibitors that will be launching new products will utilise workshops to explain the applications for their technology. 

AQE Partner: Environmental Protection UK (EPUK) 

EPUK aims to improve environmental quality for everyone in the UK. It seeks to bring together environmental professionals, industry, policy makers, academics and members of the public to inform debate and influence changes to policy and practice in areas such as air quality, so EPUK shares many of the core objectives of AQE2013.

EPUK President Prof. John Murlis believes that, as air quality monitoring plays such an important part in the work of EPUK members, AQE2013 will provide an ideal opportunity to meet air monitoring professionals and to take advantage of the many facilities that AQE has to offer. “It is extremely important to be able to understand the factors that affect air quality, so accurate, reliable monitoring has a vital role to perform,” he says, adding: “Regulations are often improved or developed as a result of advances in monitoring technology, so I hope that a good number of our members will be able to attend AQE 2013. It will provide them with the latest information on both regulatory and technological developments, whilst helping them to understand better what is now possible in determining the relationship between emissions and ambient air quality.”

AQE Partner: The Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM)

Roger Barrowcliffe, Chairman of the IAQM, believes that air quality is an environmental issue which concerns many members of the public and represents an outstanding problem for government at all levels. He says: “Despite consistent progress in reducing emissions from industry and road transport, we have not yet achieved universal compliance with the standards and guidelines we use to protect the health of humans and ecosystems.  To make more progress we need to increase our understanding of the problems and to utilise even better techniques in our management of air quality.

“The AQE show provides a timely forum to keep air quality professionals in touch with the latest technology and to exchange ideas with their peers.  The IAQM strongly supports events of this kind, which facilitate professional development and positive interaction between members of the air quality community.  As an active air quality professional, I look forward to participating in the AQE Show and meeting other people with an interest in our subject.”

For visitors that pre-register at www.AQEshow.com, entry to the exhibition and workshops is free of charge, and also includes complimentary parking, food and refreshments. 

Entrance to the AQE 2013 conferences will cost £55 per day or £100 for both days.