The local Environmental Protection Agency at the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, recently found an increased concentration of the carcinogen benzene in the air. Unfortunately they did not have the equipment available to determine the source, so they called the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for assistance.

NPL has a facility, mounted on the back of an articulated lorry, which uses DIAL (Differential Absorption Light detection and ranging) technology to collect data and execute assessments of environmental emissions. It uses state-of-the-art infrared and ultraviolet light technology to measure actual emissions and so pinpoint the source of the benzene.

The NPL DIAL van and the report that it produced featured on the local Dutch news.

The local agency is committed to reducing the number of pollutants in the air and, based on NPL's report and advice, has just purchased a specialised camera which can make the invisible benzene visible, so they can track future leaks.

Find out more about NPL's Environmental Measurement work

Contact: Rod Robinson