India urgently needs certification system for industrial emissions monitoring devices

Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) is a real-time pollution monitoring system in use across the world for years. It was introduced in India by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in February 2014, initially for 17 categories of industries and common pollution treatment facilities of the country. 

In spite of more than seven years of introduction, CEMS data cannot be used for legal and compliance purposes due to various reasons. One is the poor quality of CEMS data that makes it of no use either to industry or the regulator. This is one of the biggest challenges for the system’s success in India. 

Countries like Europe and the United States of America have been using CEMS for the last 25–30 years and have established a powerful monitoring system to regulate emission of gases and particulate matter in the atmosphere.

The crucial factors behind the success of CEMS in these countries are:

• Well-framed certification and quality assurance systems of devices
• Extensive testing and verification of devices by independent agencies
• Defined roles and responsibilities of stakeholders
• Definitive guidelines

Europe has a CEMS certification system, while the US has adopted CEMS performance checks during installation. Europe has a well-established CEMS quality assurance system known as EN-14181 standards.

It includes three quality assurance levels (QAL) — QAL 1, QAL 2, QAL 3 — and the annual surveillance test (AST). QAL1 done during product certification, QAL2 during installation and calibration, and QAL3 during operation. AST starts one year after QAL 2. The monitoring  certification schemes and the German environmental agency’s Technischer Überwachungs-Verein (TUV) schemes are the two European certification schemes for CEMS.

The CEMS device certification process is different. The device is checked for performance assurance during installation at the site. After installation, it undergoes periodic quality assurance testing to ensure the systems continue to provide accurate data.

The accuracy and credibility of CEMS data comes from the quality of equipment, correct installation, proper operation and calibration. To confirm the quality of the equipment, it must be certified by a concerned authority using set performance standards. 

Chirag Bhimani,  environmental expert, said:

The certification system for CEMS will make the precious CEMS data usable for regulatory and compliance purposes. It will also give a boost to indigenous manufacturers of CEMS and thereby fulfill the vision of ‘Make in India’.

In India, a lot of local vendors misguide buyers and sell sensor-based to industries. This technology is not approved by CPCB. The earlier versions of CEMS devices installed in industries do not have facilities for auto calibration, zero check and span check (used to cross-check CEMS data). Hence, they do not meet the drift rates and linearity.

To address these issues, there is a need to develop a certification system for CEMS which prevents the installation of these kinds of equipment and quality assurance system to monitor the performance of devices being used.

For quality assurance, until an indigenous certification system is in place, CPCB suggested the use of assessment procedures equivalent to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and European standards. TUV-, MCERTS- and USEPA-certified and approved analysers should be used, the body recommended. 

Most CEMS instruments used are imported and come with certification from agencies such as USEPA, TUV or MCERTS. The certificate issued to instruments is based on environmental and climatic conditions of the certificate-issuing country. 

There is high variability in the temperature and humidity between India and the countries certifying CEMS, which affects the quality of measurements by instruments operating for long periods in Indian conditions. 

Further, there is a difference in the operation and maintenance methods and modalities. No existing certification system for CEMS equipment takes into consideration India’s climatic conditions.

What needs to be done:

• An indigenous certification system for CEMS needs to be developed
• Performance standards need to be developed for certification, against which CEMS will be tested in the same line as in Europe, US and other countries
• Non-certified devices should be tested by competent laboratories against their performance standards because setting-up a certification system may require considerable time and effort
• Laboratory need to be equipped with basic infrastructure and skilled manpower to perform tasks related to CEMS

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change designated the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory August 22, 2019 as the verification and certification agency. The specifics have not been formulated yet.

Indian certification will not just enhance data credibility from indigenous equipment but also reduce equipment costs. This, in fact, is an opportunity for stakeholders to improve the CEMS implementation scenario.

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