Emissions from fossil fuels can be tracked and quantified directly by measuring the 14C content of CO2 in the air; the lower the content, the greater the contribution of fossil fuel combustion.
C14-SCAR is an instrument capable to perform this measurement in real time; its rapid measurement routines, in combination with an innovative automatic extraction process for atmospheric CO2, will provide a quasi-continuous air monitoring capability.
This can help control emissions from fossil fuels that generate a net increase in atmospheric CO2, or it can be used to monitor the safety of areas at risk; 14CO2 monitoring around nuclear power plants and waste repositories can ensure safety from radioactive hazards to both workers of nuclear sites and the population living in their vicinity.
Measurement Process
C14-SCAR for environment is capable of continuously measuring the concentration of 14CO2 in air, the complete measurement process is divided into two steps:
CO2 accumulation and storage
An atmospheric sampler enables the direct extraction of CO2 gas from the air; the accumulated gas is sent to the sampler outlet as a stream of a mixture of CO2 and He (carrier gas).
Purification and measurement
The gas collected by the atmospheric sampler is trapped and purified inside C14-SCAR and transferred to the measuring cell.
When the measuring cell has been filled to the correct pressure, the Saturated CAvity Ring-down process begins and measurements are taken.
The analysis result is provided automatically after the measurement.
Performance
14C-SCAR is a very versatile instrument, it achieves excellent sensitivity at low measurement times, has a very wide dynamic range, about 4 decades, and requires a modest amount of sample to operate.
With measurement times in the order of 120min 14C-SCAR achieves sub-pmc accuracies.
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