Monitor Methane From Feedlots With A MIDAC Open Path FTIR Spectrometer

The US EPA requires that any emissions of greenhouse gases greater than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year be reported. Methane is shown to exhibit greenhouse effects 23 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. Uncertainty currently surrounds the methods used to estimate such emissions, and measurement of methane in the troposphere by conventional methods is difficult and expensive.

MIDAC open path Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers are uniquely positioned to measure such emissions. MIDAC air monitoring systems are capable of extreme path lengths, enabling analysis of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide with up to single digit ppb detection limits. At the cattle farm depicted above, an infrared beam is sent from a 60 inch source array to a receiving telescope over a kilometer away. The spectrometer makes measurements of the air between them. MIDAC has designed and built spectrometers since 1978 for industrial hygiene, leak detection, fenceline monitoring and a host of related applications.

SOURCE: MIDAC Corporation