A brand-new Air Quality Monitoring Network for the northern part of Cyprus

AQMS | Ambient monitoring solutions

Customer / Beneficiary: Environmental Protection Department of Ministry of Tourism and Environment in Northern part of Cyprus

Project: Environmental Monitoring Supplies for the Turkish Cypriot community

Project funding: The Aid Programme of the European Commission

CONTEXT:

Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 as a de-facto divided island. On 26 April 2004 the Council of the European Union stated its determination to “put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community”. The European Commission provides support for the current Cyprus settlement negotiations and implements the Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community. Through the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, the EU has set a specific objective to develop and upgrade infrastructure and improve the environment and the air quality. These projects are bringing infrastructure and environmental protection closer to European standards, which is essential for the reunification of the island.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The main impact and results of the project were the provision of the necessary equipment and training of the beneficiary staff resulting in renovation and increasing the capacity of the existing Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) network in order to achieve entire compliance with the requirements of the EU air quality directive (2008/50/EC).

Early 2009, Turkish Cypriot community has deployed its first AQM network under the EU Aid Programme. The AQM network consisted of nine fully equipped Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS), mainly based on ENVEA (former ENVIRONNEMENT S.A.) gaseous pollutants and fine particulate analyzers: AC32M, AF22M, CO12M, O342M and MP101M.

“To comply with the actual European legislation (EN 14211:2012, EN 14212:2012, EN 14625:2012, EN 14626:2013 and EN 14662-3:2015) as well as with National Regulations, the existing stations required to be upgraded, but also with enhanced capacity. In addition, the purpose of the renovation is also to expand the network with digital information tools that complement and improve existing information channels to provide the public with real-time information on air pollution as well as the measured concentrations of specific pollutants.”

Interview with Mr. Tomas Prokop, executive director of foreign subsidiaries of ENVItech Bohemia s.r.o., the ENVEA local distributor.

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WHAT ACTIONS HAVE YOU TAKEN TO MODERNIZE THE EXISTING STATIONS?

The 9 existing air quality monitoring stations have been retrofitted. The analyzers of the old stations have been replaced by new ones, which are not only more recent, but belong to the new e-Series, the eco-designed, ultra-smart and connected generation.

We have also designed and built new mobile laboratories (mobile AQMS stations) and Hotspot traffic stations to increase the coverage of the air quality monitoring network.

All these stations are featured with a comprehensive system for data aquisition, data processing and regulatory reporting of pollutants.

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HOW MANY ENVEA AIR QUALITY MONITORS HAVE YOU INSTALLED?

For the AQM network renovation we’ve installed in total 23 brand new continuous “e-series” eco-designed gas analysers for the continuous measurement of:

- Nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2, NOx) – AC32e,

- Ozone (O3) – O342e,

- Sulphur dioxide (SO2) – AF22e,

- Carbon monoxide (CO) – CO12e,

- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) – VOC72e

They are QAL 1 certified by the TÜV and are fully calibrated in compliance with ISO 17025.

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WHAT ARE THE FEATURES THAT DETERMINED THE CHOICE OF THESE ANALYZERS?

Besides the QAL 1 certification and the EU air quality directive compliance, which are mandatory, compared to other analysers on the market, the e-Series are robust and ultra-compact. This is very important in revamping projects, as it avoid important hardware modifications to make them fit. Their very low energy consumption and ability to withstand high temperature ranges without air conditioning are also valuable features especially on isolated places, as an island might be. Speaking about an island: the e-Series analyzers share a similar design and have many components and electronic boards in common. The stock of spare parts is highly reduced and perfectly optimized.

And what I appreciate even more about this series are their „connectivity features” and the online operations. To give an example, the analyzers perform a continuous survey of their internal parameters and send early warnings. Our engineers are then able to analyze the situation remotely, realize online updates if necessary, and schedule the maintenance operations.

Finally, the low environmental impact of the analyzers during their whole lifecycle as well as the exclusive “inside the box” foam modular concept which makes the product more robust and easier to service.