MCERTS Air Monitoring Equipment – Portable? Transportable? What is the Difference?

Air Monitoring - Transportable Systems
MCERTS promotes public confidence in monitoring data and provides industry with a proven framework for choosing monitoring systems and services that meet Environment Agency requirements. More recently, the Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) standard has been updated to include new requirements and specifications for transportable monitoring equipment – as can be seen in Annex F.

A transportable system is a variant of a CEM designed for periodic use, typically on more than one stack, rather than fixed emissions monitoring. Transportable systems have two main applications; for use within SRMs, or as back-up CEMS. The testing requirements differ depending what application the product fits into. For use as a back-up CEM, field test data is essential.

Some portable systems are variants of fixed CEMS, designed to the same high standards, suitable for measuring emissions close to emissions limit values and for calibrating CEMS. These systems are covered by the transportable annex of the CEMS standard, rather than the portable emissions standard.

Air Monitoring – Portable Systems
The Portable Emission Monitoring standard was initially introduced in 2005, providing a performance standard. Portable systems for monitoring stack emissions have a less demanding set of specifications than those for CEMS and transportable systems. Portable systems can be used for;

•indicative monitoring,
•installations where daily average emissions are likely to be below 50% of the emissions limit and where LCPD or WID do not apply,
•fugitive emissions,
•gaseous releases from bore-holes etc,
•Installations with a smaller risk of significant environmental impact.

MCERTS Water Monitoring Equipment
Portable water monitors (PWMs) are instruments used for the determination of the value of specified parameters of water quality. They may be easily carried by one person, require no external power and comprise all the components required to make an in-situ measurement.

The determinands currently covered are:

•ammonia
•COD
•chlorophyll a
•conductivity
•dissolved oxygen
•free cyanide
•nitrate
•nitrite
•orthophosphate
•pH
•temperature
•total arsenic
•total chlorine
•total copper
•total mercury
•total cadmium
•total lead
•total nickel
•turbidity

This list is not definitive, and if manufacturers are willing to assist in the development of the standard to add new determinands then it is possible to add to this list – as has been done with heavy metals. As with all the MCERTS schemes, the requirements for PWMS are intended to be technology transparent to encourage innovation within the industry. The procedure for certification to the portable standard remains the same; however, the portable standard has some variations to the continuous / on-line standard. The majority of the continuous test data will be transferable for the certification of the instrument as a portable device, reducing the costs if a manufacturer seeks certification to both standards.

For more information please contact Sira on email: info@siracertification.com