Clean air is made up of nitrogen, oxygen and argon, with traces of other gases such as carbon dioxide.
Air pollutants mainly come from the discharges of gases and particles, mostly from industry, motor vehicles and domestic wood burning. There are also natural sources such as windblown dust and smoke from bushfire. Some forms of air pollution create global problems requiring international solutions; for example, upper-atmosphere ozone depletion and acid rain. The enhanced greenhouse effect also falls into this category.
The most widespread pollutants include carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ozone, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and particles. These substances are used as indicators of air quality.
Air pollution can cause health problems. For example, high concentrations of air pollutants (poor air quality) can aggravate existing respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, or increase the risk of respiratory problems.
To protect the environment against harmful and unhealthy levels of air pollution, Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) adopt objectives to protect a range of beneficial uses, including the health and well being of humans, plants and animals. These policies cover all the major pollutants as well as specific industrial pollutants from chimneys. There are more stringent controls on industrial discharges of pollutants that may have adverse health effects or are highly toxic.
At ECOTECH, we specialise in air quality monitoring instruments and systems. We manufacture our own range of air quality analysers and import from world leading brands and are able to offer fully integrated monitoring systems. ECOTECH’s air quality monitoring covers a wide variety of gases from background/trace levels, through ambient and up to stack levels. We also have instruments to monitor hydrocarbons, greenhouse gases, gas isotopes and gases within process environments.
Particle pollution (also called particulate matter or PM) is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.
Particle pollution includes “inhalable coarse particles,” with diameters larger than 2.5 micrometers and smaller than 10 micrometers and “fine particles,” with diameters that are 2.5 micrometers and smaller. These particles come in many sizes and shapes and can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals. Some particles, known as primary particles are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires. Others form in complicated reactions in the atmosphere of chemicals such as sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides that are emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles. These particles, known as secondary particles, make up most of the fine particle pollution in the world.
Environmental Protection Authorities (EPA) regulate inhalable particles (fine and coarse) as they can cause serious health problems. The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Small particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter pose the greatest problems, because they can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream.
ECOTECH supplies dust/particulate samplers and monitors for TSP, PM2.5 and PM10.
ECOTECH also produce the world’s largest range of Nephelometers, used to measure visibility along with other applications involving the scattering of light by aerosols used in global radiation balance studies.