Standards and Innovation Working Together

MCERTS product certification provides independent, accredited approval of product performance that is recognised internationally. The Environment Agency of England has appointed Sira as its chosen Certification Body to operate the MCERTS certification schemes.

The Environment Agency’s MCERTS Performance Standards for monitoring systems are based on International, European and British Standards. Products are certified based on the performance of the instrument. The Environment Agency’s MCERTS Performance Standards are not technology specific, allowing new and innovative technologies to be certified. A recent example of this can be seen with the certification of the OCM Pro CF Flowmeter, manufactured by NIVUS GmbH in Germany.

The NIVUS OCM Pro CF flowmeter is an area velocity flowmeter using cross correlation principle to give very accurate open channel flow measurement without the need for a primary measuring device. Reflectors within the medium
(particles, minerals or gas bubbles) are scanned using an ultrasonic impulse and saved as digital echo patterns. A few milliseconds later another scan follows. Correlating both signals then allows the flow velocity to be calculated. By repeating this procedure in varying flow levels it is possible to determine the real flow velocity profile.

It is now a requirement for MCERTS effluent flow monitoring applications that all flowmeters have MCERTS product certification. NIVUS is proud to announce that it has been awarded MCERTS product certification for their OCM Pro CF flowmeter for open channel flow applications. The certificate was awarded by Sira after extensive laboratory and field testing of the flowmeter and auditing of the manufacturing process. With this product certification NIVUS expects to increase its already expanding market share into the UK.

The MCERTS Performance Standards have been extended at the request and with the support of manufacturers to cover new applications and determinands. A more recent extension was to the Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) standard to allow for transportable CEMs (Annex F) to be certified. Servomex, a manufacturer based in the UK, has recently been awarded MCERTS certification for their SERVOFLEX MiniMP portable oxygen analyser:

In their work of verifying the fixed CEMs, source testers in all parts of the world frequently require transportable oxygen analysers to add to their existing pollutants analysis. This is not a particularly demanding application since the analysers are only used for a few days at a time unlike the fixed AMS / CEM analysers which are required for continuous measurement.

Since this is the reference measurement which affects the reported analysis of the pollutants it is vital that it has an acceptable level of performance. In the UK and many parts of Europe MCERTS product certification is accepted as verification of this performance. The Servomex SERVOFLEX MiniMP portable oxygen analyser is designed for this type of application but it was not cost effective to submit this for the fixed AMS / CEMS MCERTS approval.

However when this MCERTS approval standard was amended to include a provision for transportable analysers, Annex F, this changed the situation because there is no requirement for costly and lengthy field trials. Due to this the project was justified and Servomex was subsequently awarded MCERTS approval to Annex F for the ERVOFLEX MiniMP analyser in a timely and cost effective manner.

The Environment Agency and Sira are keen to work with industry to ensure the MCERTS Performance Standards meet the current requirements of process operators and manufacturers, as well as ensuring they still meet the overarching requirements of European Directives.