VOC Detector Chosen for Demanding Hydrocarbon Emission Monitoring Requirements 

When worldwide leader in integrated environmental services, EnGlobe Corp required highly sensitive photoionisation (PID) devices for the daily monitoring of potential hydrocarbon emissions during its demanding River Kishon dredging project in Israel, it chose two hand held Tiger volatile organic compound (VOC) detectors from Ion Science (UK).

The unique and complex project involves dredging approximately 500,000m³ of hydrocarbon impacted sediment from the River Kishon. This sediment will be dewatered before undergoing intensive biotreatment on site in order to meet the stringent clean-up criteria. Upon completion of the treatment, the material will be used to construct landscaped hills and public open space on site.

James O’Hara, Monitoring Manager at Englobe Corp comments: “The River Kishon project is high profile and represents a first for EnGlobe. The monitoring requirements are extremely varied and demanding with Environmental Samplers monitoring 40 locations per day, on the main site, boundaries and river.

James continues: “Monitoring is required to help ensure the safety of our workforce by detecting any hydrocarbon emissions that arise as a result of the dredging and clean-up operation. The close proximity of heavy industry to the area meant we needed an extra sensitive device to differentiate between on and off site sources.  The Ion Science Tiger was recommended by our long standing supplier, Van Walt, as offering the sensitivity levels needed for the application.”

Both Ion Science Tigers have been upgraded with the optional data logging function and associated software. Data is entered into EnGlobe’s dedicated database where it is interpreted and then reported to the client. It is presented in weekly reports and available for viewing by the client on the database, 24 hours a day. The software also enables EnGlobe to easily change settings when switching between different voltage lamps.

James adds: “The Ion Science Tigers will be in almost constant daily use in harsh conditions so reliability, versatility, durability and accuracy were also key features. Plus, the Tiger is easy to set up and use in the field which is an important requirement when the Environmental Samplers are simultaneously monitoring odours, noise and gases together with respirable and inhalable dusts.

“The service from Van Walt in the UK and Ion Science’s representatives in Israel has been great and the training provided by both businesses was of a high standard and covered both operational and regular maintenance,” he concludes.

EnGlobe has developed a unique expertise in the management of organic waste materials and in reusing or recovering decontaminated soils as well as in the precision testing and calibration of bulk tanks and storage systems.

A robust hand held VOC detector, Tiger provides a dynamic detection range of 1 parts per billion (ppb) to 20,000 parts per million (ppm), offering the widest measurement range of any other VOC instrument on the market.

Ready to use, straight out of the box, the Tiger requires no complex set up procedures via a PC to perform basic functions and provides the best available VOC detection and software features available.

Ion Science’s Tiger also has the fastest response time on the market of just two seconds and can be connected directly to a PC via the USB offering extremely fast data download capabilities.

It has been designed for the safe replacement of batteries in hazardous environments and is intrinsically safe (IS) - meeting ATEX, IECEx, UL and CSA standards.