An optical gas imaging camera has been selected by the DCMR Environmental Protection Agency to on inspect storage tanks, vapour recovery units and VOC handling activities of refineries and storage and handling facilities The DCMR Environmental Protection Agency is the regional environmental agency of the local and regional authorities operating in Rijnmond, the larger 'Port of Rotterdam' area in the Netherlands. The tasks of the DCMR include regulation of the industries, monitoring and assisting authorities on developing environmental policy. The DCMR issues permits to virtually all of the 22,000 enterprises in the area and carries out more than 9,000 inspections to monitor compliance with the permit conditions. In recent years the DCMR performed field studies to measure and quantify the total emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) from industrial sources in the Rotterdam port area. The measurements indicate that the fugitive VOC emissions were about 3 to 4 times higher than the emissions that are annually reported to the DCMR. Because VOC emissions attribute to photochemical smog and can have a serious effect on the environment and human health the Air Quality Department of the DCMR purchased a FLIR GF320 Optical Gas Imaging camera. The initial focus for using the camera will be on inspecting storage tanks, vapour recovery units and VOC handling activities of refineries and storage and handling facilities. The GF320 camera will be used to develop a standard and solid working method that can be used as a law enforcement tool. For this reason effort will also be put in making a NTA (Dutch Technical Agreement) together with other stakeholders to make the FLIR GF320 camera an even more accepted method. The final goal of the DCMR will be to reduce many kilotons of VOC's emissions with aid of the FLIR GF320 Optical Gas Imaging camera.
Gas imaging camera
