Model-based approach to emissions monitoring boasts regulatory advantages

In the harsh environment of a smokestack or other effluent outlet, points out Don Hart, a marketing director with Pavilion Technologies, sensors can fail or misread. On the other hand, models predict by-product emissions based on known quantities of process inputs. A minute-by-minute calculation of emissions is a practical reality, and cheaper and more reliable than direct measurement, says Hart.

Version 2 of the Pavilion 8 software platform, released in late September, includes enhanced predictive emissions monitoring, and two new applications: real-time environmental management, and production performance management. Backed by data validation methods and a secure metadata repository, the point is to have an accurate and auditable depository of environmental compliance information, says Hart. "What's required is a verifiable system of record."

The performance management application builds more accurate operations models than can be achieved through arithmetic calculation. According to Tom Fiske, senior analyst at Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group, "Integrating performance management, environmental compliance, and predictive modeling on one platform is an opportunity to achieve significant value."