Field-deployable Calibrator for Gas Phase Elemental and Oxidized Mercury Compounds

Benefit

Existing mercury monitoring systems can underreport oxidized mercury, especially in high-ozone environments, because some denuder-based capture methods lose collected oxidized species. This leads to biased datasets and serious underreporting. Additionally, speciation is becoming globally required for environmental reporting, so sensors that record only elemental mercury won’t suffice to meet regulatory requirements.

This technology uses a dual-channel approach: one channel superheats incoming air to measure total mercury, while the second channel removes oxidized species and measures elemental mercury. Subtractive speciation yields oxidized mercury concentrations. An integrated calibration module injects a known quantity of mercury at levels relevant to the ambient atmosphere for real-time self-calibration, preserving accuracy and removing systematic bias due to environmental effects.  Calibrations are traceable to SI gravimetric standards.

With reliable, species-resolved mercury data and built-in calibration, the system helps compliance testers and monitoring agencies reduce regulatory risk and offers a cost-competitive alternative to legacy instruments. Improved accuracy in oxidized-mercury reporting allows instrumentation manufacturers and global monitoring companies to improve data quality.

Market Application

This system offers high-accuracy mercury speciation with real-time calibration, making it an attractive licensing opportunity for instrumentation manufacturers or environmental testing firms.