Development of A Low-Cost Petroleum VOC Air Quality Monitor For Environmental Justice Communities

Abstract:

The cost for Petroleum Industry multi-sensor air quality monitors (AQMs) ranges from $ 25,000-$200,000 which is cost prohibitive for community based non-profit organizations who want to conduct their own fence-line community-based science research. The Coalition For A Safe Environment (CFASE) has developed a novel design for a Low-Cost Petro VOC AQM Prototype under $ 2,000 USD that is cost-effective and focuses on some of the priority VOC chemicals of concern such benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and methane.

We present the Petro VOC AQM design process and challenges in building a low-cost monitor. The first design issue with low-cost sensors is that they only last for one-year depending on their usage and exposure to high concentrations of VOCs. A second and key limitation of several off-the shelf sensors is they are applicable for a specific set of VOCs. We discuss additional design considerations for community-based monitoring including monitor portability and WiFi capability. The prototypes will undergo validation testing at the Air Quality Sensor Performance Evaluation Center (AQ-SPEC) of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The monitors will be deployed for fenceline monitoring at three locations in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles. We discuss preliminary results from field deployment at select monitoring sites near refineries.