Mercury Investigation and Cleanup
Mercury Tracker 3000 The Mercury Tracker 3000 measures the mercury
concentration in air and other gases. It has multiple applications including: v
mercury surveys
v
mercury spills
screening
v
work place
monitoring to avoid mercury exposure
v
ground air
screening
v
investigation of
contaminated sites
v
hazardous waste
inspection
Field screening instruments are extremely important in
mercury detection and remediation. Types range from real time sampling
instruments to detection tubes. The
Tracker 3000 is a real time instrument which utilizes an optical cell to detect
mercury vapors and has a low detection limit of 0.1 F ug/m ³.
Measuring Principle
- The mercury concentration is measured in an optical cell entirely made of a
high purity grade fused silica. A maintenance-free membrane pump continuously
feeds the sample gas to the optical cell where light absorption measurement
takes place at a wavelength of 253.7 nm. This so called "cold vapor"
measuring method is extremely sensitive for mercury determination and has been
used successfully for many years.
Analytical Performance
- The Mercury Tracker 3000 uses a high-frequency driven electrodeless Hg low
pressure (EDL) lamp as UV source. It generates emission lines of an extremely
narrow bandwidth which are congruent with the absorption lines of the Hg atoms.
Cross-sensitivities are thus minimized. Unlike the gold film based systems,
measurements are not interfered by H2S. The extremely high stability
of the UV source is a result of the reference beam method which is applied in
the Mercury Tracker 3000. Total background noise is less than 0.1 µg/m3. To
prevent temperature drift, both the lamp unit and the detectors are
temperature-stabilized. The instrument is calibrated periodically for quality
control.
Display and Output of
Measurements - The
result of the measurement is displayed on an LCD in real time, both numerically
and graphically and is output as an electrical signal of 4-20 mA. The Mercury
Tracker 3000 has outputs for alarm, status and measurement values for recording
or full integration in plant control systems.
Mobile Use
- The Mercury Tracker 3000 has a built-in rechargeable battery with a capacity
for six hours operation. The wand connected to the sample inlet allows to check
spots or to screen areas for mercury concentrations. The comparatively low
sample flow rate minimizes influences of the instrument itself on the mercury
concentration over hot spots.
Data Logger Function
- The Mercury Tracker 3000 features a built-in data logger. Up to 30000 readings
can be stored in the data memory. The logging interval can be set from