A weeks work in seconds: Saving time, improving quality in gas analysis on landfill and brownfield sites

Compliance with Environment Agency PPC permit requirements, QA/continuity, legal-evidence quality data and reducing a weeks work to seconds are part of the huge gains for landfill operators with Geotech latest PC download software, GPS borehole finder and Event Log options for the Geotech GA2000/GEM2000 portable gas analysers.

Instant accurate data download or a week of manual data input? That is the choice facing technicians with numerous borehole gas analysis data sets. Those with data download will not wish go back to keying in endless datasets from manual notes with its risk for data entry errors. For technicians using Geotech’s latest Gas Analyser Manager software (GAMS), those days have gone.

With one or many Geotech GA2000/GEM2000 landfill gas analysers and a PC/notebook with GAMS, technicians simply USB-connect enabling download, upload and other communication with their analysers. Earlier, users will have selected download parameters (see below) and output to generic csv/spreadsheets, Rungas, or Monitor Pro formats. The digital data sets retained within GAMS cannot be altered. If tampered with, telltale warnings appears.

Compliance - legal-evidence data

This tamper evidence makes the data sets legal-evidence quality, especially for Environment Agency permit compliance.

What is downloaded?

From the GA2000/GEM2000 data store of 1000 boreholes and 2000 readings, typical user preset GAMS download parameters include: borehole ID, time, date, site and borehole conditions and the gas percentages of methane(CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S).

On site prompting ensures continuity

Benefits to technicians using GAMS on site include automated on-screen prompts for essential clean-air purge between each gas sample, ’next borehole’ in preset route order (with multiple sites and routes), stating required sampling time which is essential for continuity with preset pump run times, preset questions about borehole and site condition. Additionally the technicians can use the Notepad enhancements within the GA/GEM2000 for essential site related information.

By the numbers - cost calculation

One landfill technician, before using GAMS, said, "After 2-3 days on site taking borehole readings with manual notes, it can take a week to manually key in the data collected from the previous site visit." So GAMS can pay for itself quickly depending on the total daily cost of a landfill technician.

GPS - borehole finder

A more recent option, built in to the Geotech GA2000/GEM2000, is the GPS borehole finder. It works with GAMS and accurately steers technicians to the next borehole. It adds the geographic coordinates to each reading - confirming and recording analysis details relate to correct boreholes.

Event log

The Event Log option on the Geotech GA2000 or GEM2000 is an audit trail data logger recording user actions and offering traceability. Essential to prove QA, as it records purge times, pump run times, it assists in indicating where training may be required.

When time is money and accuracy, traceability and quality count, the Geotech GAMS, GPS and Event Log deliver them all to gas analysis.

More: www.geotech.co.uk