FTIR meets Fire Testing needs for toxic gas analysis

One of the most dangerous aspects of a fire is toxic gas. To save lives and develop safer materials for airplanes, trains, and buildings, it is vital to identify and measure the gases that are released when products and materials are burning.

The BASF Fire Technology Laboratory in Ludwigshafen, Germany, conducts fire testing on materials to assess the fire behaviour and flammability of products and to determine whether they meet the necessary performance criteria specified in a wide variety of testing standards and regulatory codes. During these tests, a small specimen of the material is ignited in a test chamber and the produced gases are collected by a heated sampling system. Toxicity analysis is then performed with an advanced FTIR gas analyzer from Gasmet Ansyco, a company specialized in industrial FTIR gas analyzers.

BASF's Dr. Rolf Henn says: “FTIR is the method which was selected by the DIN and EN standardization work groups as the most reliable standard method for the quantification of toxic fire effluents, because it is capable of measuring all of the target gases across a wide concentration range. In most standards, this includes: CO, CO2, HCN, SO2, NOx, HCl, HF and HBr. Using Calcmet™ software, spectra can easily be analyzed and stored. Hence, any measurements can be reanalyzed retrospectively when necessary.”

The BASF Fire Technology Laboratory is accredited to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 and provides a wide range of testing services for products from both BASF and external organizations.

“The Gasmet FTIR analyzer was chosen for a number of reasons,” Dr Henn says. “It is robust and reliable, and operation is easy right from the start; even for beginners in spectroscopy. The red, yellow and green lights displayed by the Calcmet software for each respective gas component give operators a simple and immediate hint of a possible mismatch in spectra analysis, so that they can follow up with, for example, manual adaptation of the spectral region used for determination of this specific toxic gas component. The Gasmet instrument therefore represents the optimal solution between fully automated data evaluation and manual IR spectrum assessment.

“Gasmet Ansyco provided a complete test system to meet our specific needs, including calibration of toxic gas components and interfering substances. Importantly, technical and service support was always prompt and delivered with a high level of expertise,” he adds.