Gasmet CMM offers reliable and sensitive technology for continuous mercury monitoring

Mercury monitoring requires high standards of quality from a measuring technology. In the future, large industrial plants that are producing mercury emissions must ensure that they are able to keep up with the tightened mercury monitoring requirements. At a legislative level,  the EU has only fairly recently set limits for the emissions to air of mercury for large combustion plants, among other harmful pollutants. Mercury monitoring of tomorrow also requires measurements of low mercury levels, continuous operation and access to online results.

In this article, we will introduce you to the Gasmet Continuous Mercury Monitoring (CMM) system based on the Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence (CVAF) measurement principle.

Mercury monitoring requires advanced technology

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic heavy metal, which, even in small amounts, can cause severe damage to the environment. Due to its sticky quality and extremely low concentration levels in industrial emissions, Mercury can be a challenging component to measure. Low Hg levels require very sensitive and selective monitoring technology.

Thanks to the Gasmet CMM (Continuous Mercury Monitoring) system, we have a reliable system and extremely sensitive technology based on the Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence (CVAF) measurement principle at our disposal to tackle these challenges. The Gasmet CMM system is designed for continuous measurements of gaseous Hg emissions ensuring accurate measurements of extremely low and high concentrations of mercury.

If you want to increase your knowledge on emissions monitoring in general and learn more about our solutions, you can download our Emissions Monitoring Handbook free of charge.

What is continuous mercury monitoring used for?

The CMM is designed for continuous measurements of Mercury from hot, wet and corrosive gas streams. The system is used in a wide range of industrial processes requiring Mercury emissions monitoring, such as waste incinerations, power plants and cement plants.

The Gasmet CMM system holds MCERTS and TÜV certifications for all the aforementioned industrial plants.

CMM enables all kinds of measurements from high to extremely low Hg concentrations, making the analyzer a very versatile and agile option for a wide range of measurement purposes. Even in circumstances where the emission levels are normally very low, the system can indicate any possible peaks in the Hg emissions, revealing defects or anomalies in the processes at very early stage.

Certification ranges of mercury in the Gasmet CMM system:

0 to 5 μg/Nm³
0 to 10 μg/Nm³
0 to 45 μg/Nm³
0 to 100 μg/Nm³
0 to 1000 μg/Nm³

Features and main benefits of Gasmet CMM

Gasmet CMM is fully designed, developed and manufactured by Gasmet and it consists of the following modules:

Dilution probe
Heated dilution probe with a two-stage blowback system gives durability and reliability even in the most demanding conditions. Dilution probe gives two advantages:

1. A two-stage blowback system is an important element because it prevents dust from getting to the probe in dusty process conditions keeping the probe filter clean and sample representative.
2. Sample dilution is possible thanks to the CVAF technology. Diluting the sample is beneficial because it offers enhanced response time and excellent cross-sensitivity.

Heated sample line
Sample lines are specially designed according to Gasmet’s needs and customized for sampling Mercury from harsh process conditions. The material of the sample lines needs to be such that the Hg compounds do not stick to the surface of the lines. The chosen sample line materials take the special characteristics of Hg into account to ensure excellent response time and high quality and reliability of the gas samples.

Mercury analyzer
Gasmet Mercury analyzer is based on Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence (CVAF) measurement principle, which offers the highest sensitivity in the world. Mercury does not always occur in its chemical element form, which is why the integrated thermal converter converts all Hg compounds to Hg⁰. This results in total gaseous Hg to be measured and zero Hg-derivatives left undetected. The Hg converter needs to be connected directly before the sample cell in order to minimize the risk of recombination of mercury compounds.

The Gasmet Continuous Mercury Monitoring analyzer has the lowest available measuring range in the world: 0-5 µg/m³.

- Detection limit 0.02 µg/m³
- QAL1 certificate for 0-5 µg/m³ (TÜV, MCERTS)
Test gas generator
The system also includes a test gas generator for automatic zero and span drift Hg⁰ checks at user-defined intervals.

Mercury monitoring – in conclusion

With our solution we want to offer the most reliable and accurate Hg monitoring system for a wide range of monitoring needs, which enables us to protect the environment through efficient mercury monitoring. In recent years the need for continuous monitoring of mercury has become more relevant, and we forecast that the legislative pressure to monitor mercury will only increase in the future.

If you have any questions regarding continuous mercury monitoring, don’t hesitate to check our article Frequently Asked Questions about Continuous Mercury Monitoring

Mercury Emission Monitoring (CMM & CMM AutoQAL)

Continuous Mercury Monitoring systems CMM AutoQAL and CMM are the perfect solutions for monitoring mercury continuously from hot, wet and corrosive gas streams. These future-proof systems have the lowest certified range in the world (0-5 µg/m³) and CMM AutoQAL has an automatic and integrated QAL3 validation tool.

Learn more here