IonVision was featured in the BioGo -project from the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (XAMK). In the study, the group studied the use of a biocarbon in filtering landfill gasses. Especially the filtering of siloxanes was of interest in the project.

Siloxanes are a group of either linear (L) or cyclic (D) molecules with linkages made of silicone and oxygen. Siloxanes can be found in a variety of hygiene and beauty products. They are especially problematic in landfills, as their combustion products can leave a glass-like layer on top of engine parts. As the layer gets thicker, it causes a more frequent need for maintenance of equipment or can even break down said equipment during use.

Building a Case Specific Library for DMS

A library of some common siloxanes was built into IonVision to aid in immediate identification of samples. The system was first tested in a laboratory setting, where set concentrations of siloxanes were fed into the device. Additionally, the setup had branches for the biocarbon filtering of the siloxane samples and for reference air. After these measurements, the setup was switched up a little and the performance of the built library was tested.

DMS was seen to be a suitable method for examining the filtering capabilities of the biocarbon. However, to get accurate measures of the amount of siloxanes and to fine-tune the identification, the sample concentration should be more controlled.

DMS in the Field

The filtering capabilities of the biocarbon was also demonstrated in a real landfill environment utilizing IonVision. The performance of the biocarbon was compared to that of a commercial activated carbon product. Based on the DMS spectra, both carbons were excellent at filtering out the VOCs in the landfill gas. The gas was also analyzed with 5- and 25-minute samples for analysis at an external laboratory. The measurements were also imitated in a laboratory to get higher siloxane concentrations in the sample, as the landfill gas did not contain many of the siloxanes of interest. Based on the results from the external laboratory, the commercial activated carbon has a filtering performance of 99.9 %, while the biocarbon’s performance was at 99.3 %.

DMS was concluded to be a promising method for identification of harmful compounds in gas mixtures, but more case-specific parametrization is needed. The full report from the project is available on XAMK’s library site here. It is written in Finnish.

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