Design, construction and automation of sensors for monitoring greenhouse gases in the lower troposphere

Main Article Content

Erith Alexander Muñoz Rios
Jesús Palacios
Nelson Falcón

Abstract

The determination of carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) in the lower troposphere is of great importance in studies of climate change and air pollution. This work is focused on the design, construction and calibration of an instrument to measure the concentration of CO and CH4, as well as the temperature and pressure of atmospheric air. The designed device also has a coupling circuit, a microcontroller, a LCD display, a clock and a MicroSD which enables the storage and transmission of data via a RS-232 to USB. The results indicate that the signal of the CO and CH4 detectors have an exponential response, which is proportional to the concentration in the range of 0 to 120 ppm, however, it was established that the response was linear for low concentrations in the range 0 to 15 ppm. The instrument sensitivity differs for both gases evaluated, being CH4 which showed the best sensitivity in the range of 0 to 2 ppm.

Article Details

Section
Scientific Paper
Author Biographies

Erith Alexander Muñoz Rios

Investigador y especialista de automatización de procesos M-MRV para el programa ONU-REDD en Ecuador.

Jesús Palacios

Licenciado en Física, miembro del Laboratorio de Física de la Atmósfera y el Espacio Ultraterrestre, FaCYT Universidad de Carabobo, Apdo. postal 129 Avda. Bolívar Norte, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo, Venezuela.

Nelson Falcón

Doctor en Física, Licenciado en Física, Profesor del Departamento de Física de la Universidad de Carabobo, Jefe del Laboratorio de Física de la Atmósfera y el Espacio Ultraterrestre, FaCYT Universidad de Carabobo, Apdo. postal 129 Avda. Bolívar Norte, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo, Venezuela.

References

[1] R.K. Stevens and A. E. O’Keeffe., Modern Aspects of Air Pollution Monitoring, Analytical Chemistry, vol. 42, No. 2 February 1970. 143A

[2] Howard K. Roscoe, Kevin C. Clemitshaw Measurement Techniques in Gas-Phase Tropospheric Chemistry: A Selective View of the Past, Present, and Future Science 16 May 1997:Vol. 276 no. 5315 pp. 1065-1072

[3] S. S. Brown, W. P. Dubé, H. D. Osthoff, D. E.Wolfe, W. M. Angevine, and A. R. Ravishankara High resolution vertical distributions of NO3 and N2O5 through the nocturnal boundary layer Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 139–149, 2007
[4] Jochen Stutz, Björn Alicke, Ralf Ackermann, and Andreas Geyer Vertical profiles of NO3, N2O5, O3, and NOx in the nocturnal boundary layer: 1. Observations during the Texas Air Quality Study 2000 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 109, D12306, doi:10.1029/2003JD004209, 2004

[5] C. Prados-Roman, A. Butz, T. Deutschmann, M. Dorf, L. Kritten, A. Minikin, U. Platt, H. Schlager, H. Sihler, N. Theys, M. Van Roozendael, T. Wagner, and K. Pfeilsticker Airborne DOAS limb measurements of tropospheric+ trace gas profiles: case studies on the profile retrieval of O4 and BrO Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 1241–1260, 2011

[6] D. W. T. Griffith, N. M. Deutscher, C. G. R. Caldow, G. Kettlewell, M. Riggenbach, and S. Hammer A Fourier transform infrared trace gas analyser for atmospheric applications Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 5, 3717–3769, 2012

[7] J. Ungermann, C. Kalicinsky, F. Olschewski, P. Knieling, L. Hoffmann, J. Blank, W. Woiwode, H. Oelhaf, E. Hösen, C. M. Volk, A. Ulanovsky, F. Ravegnani, K. Weigel, F. Stroh, and M. Riese CRISTA-NF measurements with unprecedented vertical resolution during the RECONCILE aircraft campaign Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 1173–1191, 2012

[8] B. F. Taubman, J. C. Hains, A. M. Thompson, L. T. Marufu, B. G. Doddridge, J. W. Stehr, . A. Piety, and R. R. Dickerson Aircraft vertical profiles of trace gas and aerosol pollution over the mid-Atlantic United States: Statistics and meteorological cluster analysis JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 111, D10S07, doi:10.1029/2005JD006196, 2006

[9] M. O. Andreae, P. Artaxo, V. Beck, M. Bela, S. Freitas, C. Gerbig, K. Longo, J. W. Munger, K. T. Wiedemann, and S. C. Wofsy Carbon monoxide and related trace gases and aerosols over the Amazon Basin during the wet and dry seasons Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 6041–6065, 2012

[10] Andreas Geyer and Jochen Stutz Vertical profiles of NO3, N2O5, O3, and NOx in the nocturnal boundary layer: 2. Model studies on the altitude dependence of composition and chemistry JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 109, D12307, doi:10.1029/2003JD004211, 2004

[11] S. Wang, R. Ackermann, and J. Stutz Vertical profiles of NOx chemistry in the polluted nocturnal boundary layer in Phoenix, AZ: I. Field observations by long-path DOAS Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 6, 45–106, 2006


[12] Sofian M. Kanan , Oussama M. El-Kadri, Imad A. Abu-Yousef and Marsha C. Kanan Semiconducting Metal Oxide Based Sensors for Selective Gas Pollutant Detection Sensors 2009, 9, 8158-8196; doi:10.3390/s91008158.

[13] Yangong Zheng, Xiaogan Li and Prabir K. Dutta (2012). Exploitation of Unique Properties of Zeolites in the Development of Gas Sensors. ISSN 1424-8220

[14] Daniel T- Teitelbaum (2009) [Primera edición: 1982]. «Capítulo 56: Introducción a la toxicología ocupacional y ambiental». Escrito en Estados Unidos. En Bertram G Katzung; Susan B Masters; Anthony J Trevor. Farmacología básica y clínica. Lange médical book (11a edición edición). México: McGraw-Hill-Lange. pp. 987-998.