Flow-based ammonia gas analyzer with an open channel scrubber for indoor environments

Low-Cost Fluorescence Sensor for Ammonia Measurement in Livestock Houses

Measurements of ammonia with inexpensive and reliable sensors are necessary to obtain information about e.g., ammonia emissions. The concentration information is needed for mitigation technologies and documentation of existing technologies in agriculture. A flow-based fluorescence sensor to measure ammonia gas was developed. The automated sensor is robust, flexible and made from inexpensive components. Ammonia is transferred to water in a miniaturized scrubber with high transfer efficiency (>99%) and reacts with o-phthalaldehyde and sulfite (pH 11) to form a fluorescent adduct, which is detected with a photodiode. Laboratory calibrations with standard gas show good linearity over a dynamic range from 0.03 to 14 ppm, and the detection limit of the analyzer based on three-times the standard deviation of blank noise was approximately 10 ppb. The sampling frequency is 0.1 to 10 s, which can easily be changed through serial commands along with UV LED current and filter length. Parallel measurements with a cavity ring-down spectroscopy analyzer in a pig house show good agreement (R² = 0.99). The fluorescence sensor has the potential to provide ammonia gas measurements in an agricultural environment with high time resolution and linearity over a broad range of concentrations.

Indoor acids and bases

Numerous acids and bases influence indoor air quality. The most abundant of these species are CO₂ (acidic) and NH₃ (basic), both emitted by building occupants. Other prominent inorganic acids are HNO₃ , HONO, SO₂ , H₂ SO₄ , HCl, and HOCl. Prominent organic acids include formic, acetic, and lactic; nicotine is a noteworthy organic base. Sources of N-, S-, and Cl-containing acids can include ventilation from outdoors, indoor combustion, consumer product use, and chemical reactions. Organic acids are commonly more abundant indoors than outdoors, with indoor sources including occupants, wood, and cooking. Beyond NH₃ and nicotine, other noteworthy bases include inorganic and organic amines. Acids and bases partition indoors among the gas-phase, airborne particles, bulk water, and surfaces; relevant thermodynamic parameters governing the partitioning are the acid-dissociation constant (K_a ), Henry's law constant (K_H ), and the octanol-air partition coefficient (K_oa ). Condensed-phase water strongly influences the fate of indoor acids and bases and is also a medium for chemical interactions. Indoor surfaces can be large reservoirs of acids and bases. This extensive review of the state of knowledge establishes a foundation for future inquiry to better understand how acids and bases influence the suitability of indoor environments for occupants, cultural artifacts, and sensitive equipment.

Formaldehyde vapor produced from hexamethylenetetramine and pesticide: Simultaneous monitoring of formaldehyde and ozone in chamber experiments by flow-based hybrid micro-gas analyzer

Simultaneous analysis of HCHO and O3 was performed by the developed flow analysis system to prove that HCHO vapor is produced from solid pesticide in the presence of O3. HCHO is produced in many ways, including as primary emissions from fuel combustion and in secondary production from anthropogenic and biogenic volatile organic compounds by photochemical reactions. In this work, HCHO production from pesticides was investigated for the first time. Commonly pesticide contains surfactant such as hexamethylenetetramine (HMT), which is a heterocyclic compound formed from six molecules of HCHO and four molecules of NH3. HMT can react with gaseous oxidants such as ozone (O3) to produce HCHO. In the present study, a flow analysis system was developed for simultaneous analysis of HCHO and O3, and this system was used to determine if solid pesticides produced HCHO vapor in the presence of O3. HMT or the pesticide jimandaisen, which contains mancozeb as the active ingradient and HMT as a stabilizer was placed at the bottom of a 20-L stainless steel chamber. Air in the chamber was monitored using the developed flow system. Analyte gases were collected into an absorbing solution by a honeycomb-patterned microchannel scrubber that was previously developed for a micro gas analysis system (μGAS). Subsequently, indigotrisulfonate, a blue dye, was added to the absorbing solution to detect O3, which discolored the solution. HCHO was detected after mixing with the Hantzsch reaction reagent. Both gases could be detected at concentrations ranging from parts per billion by volume (ppbv) to 1000 ppbv with good linearity. Both HMT and jimandaisen emitted large amount of HCHO in the presence of O3.

Recent advances in flow injection analysis

A dynamic development of methodologies of analytical flow injection measurements during four decades since their invention has reinforced the solid position of flow analysis in the arsenal of techniques and instrumentation of contemporary chemical analysis.