Air Quality
Project Name: Fence Line Monitoring
Project Location: Petroleum Refinery, California
Services Provided:
- Compliance audits, evaluations, and reporting
- Fence line monitoring
- Field services
For decades, regulatory agencies have required industry sectors to comply with air-quality standards and emissions limits. These limits are often created based on risk assessments, health assessments, and technological limits of detection. However, a new movement concerning air-quality standards has arisen and involves a higher level of community stakeholder interest. The EPA-backed movement, Environmental Justice, focuses on the health and safety of communities located near industrial sources.
Optical Remote Sensing (ORS) equipment has proven to provide flexibility in project design and reliability in data gathering with minimal on-site maintenance. Beams of infra-red and ultra violet light are generated and sent out into the open air. Compounds of interest absorb some of the light and can be identified based on the wavelengths of light absorbed as compared to a reference standard. The magnitude of the light absorption indicates how much of each compound of interest is actually present.
Trihydro is currently participating in the on-going maintenance of one of the first fence line monitoring systems in the nation. This refinery fence line system went on line in 1997 as a result of a chemical release causing distress to the surrounding communities. Using equipment emitting infra-red and ultra violet light, refinery boundaries are monitored for compounds of interest. These target compounds include Methane, Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes, Ethanol, and Sulfur Dioxide. For the last 8 years, Trihydro personnel have participated in this project, including equipment upgrades, community relations, data reporting and equipment maintenance.
Trihydro has teamed with Argos Scientific to provide our clients with needs-based technology, remote access, and relationship-building techniques to address stakeholder expectations while facilities continue to produce results and contribute to area economies.