Portable Spectroscopy System for Environmental Monitoring: An SO2 Case Study

In this work, a compact, portable, extended operating life, maintenance-free and remotely operable apparatus for optical absorbance measurements in the ultraviolet region is proposed. The system is useful for concentration measurement of chemical species or biological agents that exhibit ultraviolet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE sensors journal 2022-06, Vol.22 (11), p.11135-11143
Main Authors: Longo, Domenico, Giudice, Gaetano, D'Arrigo, Giuseppe, Sciuto, Antonella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
4H-SiC UV detector
Blindness
Chemical compounds
Chemicals
Detectors
Electromagnetic absorption
Environmental monitoring
Instruments
Laboratories
Laboratory tests
Light emitting diodes
Low noise
Low-cost battery powered instrument
Monitoring
Noise sensitivity
Optical detectors
Portable equipment
portable UV spectrometer
Sensitivity
Silicon carbide
SO2 monitoring
Spectrum analysis
Ultraviolet radiation
UV absorbance
Volcanic environments
volcanoes environment monitoring
WiFi instrument
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Summary:In this work, a compact, portable, extended operating life, maintenance-free and remotely operable apparatus for optical absorbance measurements in the ultraviolet region is proposed. The system is useful for concentration measurement of chemical species or biological agents that exhibit ultraviolet light absorption. An apparatus prototype was developed using a commercial LED as photons source at the desired wavelength and a photo-detector with low noise, high sensitivity and visible blindness, opportunely fabricated using Silicon Carbide technology. A suitable electronic for handling the very low-level current of the detector has been designed and built to be robust, portable, low-power, low-cost and with a WiFi user interface. The ultraviolet spectroscopy apparatus application to which this work is aimed, is the low-level concentration measurement of SO 2 in volcanic environment, while it can be easily adapted to other molecules detection and higher concentration level. While in previous Authors' work the system feasibility has been explored using laboratory instrumentation, in this work the focus is to design a system that can be used in real harsh volcanic environment, where system lightweight, endurance and chemical strength against aggressive compounds are paramount. Resolution of approximately 1 ppm, compactness, robustness and insensitivity to humidity and temperature variations are required for this kind of environment. The performed laboratory tests and calibration for SO 2 monitoring, are reported and discussed. The system shows good sensitivity as high as 8 pA/ppm, a resolution < 1 ppm for SO 2 detection and low cross-sensitivity to main components usually present in volcanic gases.
ISSN:1530-437X
1558-1748
DOI:10.1109/JSEN.2022.3169334