Remote FTIR Monitoring & Standby CEMS Support
Rapid deployment emissions monitoring to maintain compliance, investigate emissions behaviour and support low-energy abatement strategies, reducing site attendance, operational burden and overall monitoring cost.
When your primary continuous emissions monitoring system fails, when a planned shutdown creates a compliance gap, or when you need detailed emissions characterisation to support a process or abatement investigation, you need a monitoring solution that can be deployed quickly, operated reliably, and trusted to produce data that will stand up to regulatory scrutiny.
SOCOTEC's remote Fourier-Transform Infra-Red monitoring and standby Continuous Emission Monitoring support service is designed specifically for these situations. It combines the analytical breadth of FTIR multi-component analysis with the operational discipline of a fully managed monitoring programme — so that the data you receive is not just technically valid, but audit-ready and decision-ready from the moment it is generated.
What we offer:
- Remote / Unmanned Operation
- Standby CEMS Support
- FTIR-Led, Multi-Platform Capability
- Traceable O₂ QA Available
- Weekly Site Visits
- Read-Only Live Data Access
How does FTIR work?
How does FTIR work?
This service combines FTIR multi-component analysis with conventional CEMS capability to deliver flexible, long-duration emissions monitoring across a wide range of industrial applications.
FTIR technology is uniquely suited to remote and standby monitoring deployments. A single analyser can simultaneously measure a broad spectrum of gas-phase compounds — including VOCs, acid gases, solvents, sulphur species, and combustion products — without the need for multiple instruments or complex multi-analyser configurations. When integrated with SOCOTEC's remote QA infrastructure, this capability translates into a monitoring programme that is both analytically comprehensive and operationally manageable, regardless of site complexity or deployment duration.
This service combines FTIR multi-component analysis with conventional CEMS capability to deliver flexible, long-duration emissions monitoring across a wide range of industrial applications.
FTIR technology is uniquely suited to remote and standby monitoring deployments. A single analyser can simultaneously measure a broad spectrum of gas-phase compounds — including VOCs, acid gases, solvents, sulphur species, and combustion products — without the need for multiple instruments or complex multi-analyser configurations. When integrated with SOCOTEC's remote QA infrastructure, this capability translates into a monitoring programme that is both analytically comprehensive and operationally manageable, regardless of site complexity or deployment duration.
When do I need FTIR monitoring?
When do I need FTIR monitoring?
This service is relevant across a broad range of industrial scenarios, including:
- Temporary CEMS cover during analyser downtime — maintaining compliant monitoring data during primary system failure, maintenance, or replacement, without interruption to permit compliance
- Long-term VOC / solvent monitoring — providing continuous, multi-component solvent characterisation over extended periods, including deployments of twelve months or more
- Process emissions investigations — generating the detailed, speciated emissions data required to understand emission sources, quantify release rates, and support process optimisation
- Abatement system performance verification — measuring emissions upstream and downstream of abatement plant to quantify destruction efficiency and identify performance degradation
- Monitoring across complex industrial facilities — supporting multi-stack or multi-point monitoring programmes where simultaneous measurement across several emission points is required
This service is relevant across a broad range of industrial scenarios, including:
- Temporary CEMS cover during analyser downtime — maintaining compliant monitoring data during primary system failure, maintenance, or replacement, without interruption to permit compliance
- Long-term VOC / solvent monitoring — providing continuous, multi-component solvent characterisation over extended periods, including deployments of twelve months or more
- Process emissions investigations — generating the detailed, speciated emissions data required to understand emission sources, quantify release rates, and support process optimisation
- Abatement system performance verification — measuring emissions upstream and downstream of abatement plant to quantify destruction efficiency and identify performance degradation
- Monitoring across complex industrial facilities — supporting multi-stack or multi-point monitoring programmes where simultaneous measurement across several emission points is required
Lower emissions. Better data. Smarter abatement.
Continuous FTIR monitoring delivers the detailed emissions characterisation needed to optimise abatement systems, reducing energy consumption, capital expenditure, and ongoing operating costs.
Many industrial sites run abatement systems, thermal oxidisers, scrubbers, activated carbon units specified conservatively on limited data or worst-case scenarios. In practice, these systems often operate at higher duty cycles, temperatures, or reagent consumption than the process actually requires.
FTIR-based characterisation provides compound-specific, concentration-resolved data across varying process conditions, enabling site operators to work with abatement suppliers and environmental consultants to right-size their strategy, avoiding the cost of over-specified replacement systems.
SOCOTEC's managed remote monitoring service makes this level of data quality accessible without permanent CEMS installation. Deployed for the duration needed to generate a statistically robust dataset, then demobilised, it delivers the analytical output of a permanent system at a fraction of the long-term cost.
Why equipment hire isn't always the solution
Equipment hire may appear to offer a lower-cost route to temporary monitoring coverage, but the true cost of a hire only deployment, measured in data quality, staff time, and regulatory risk, is frequently higher than it first appears.
Without the technical infrastructure, QA protocols, and operational expertise that underpin SOCOTEC's managed service, hire-only deployments place the full burden of monitoring delivery on your site team. For most industrial operators, this creates operational pressure and introduces risks that are difficult to manage without specialist support.
Site team is responsible for equipment set-up, commissioning, and ongoing operation
Requiring in-house competency that many sites do not have available at short notice.
Higher risk of poor data quality or monitoring gaps
Particularly where site personnel are unfamiliar with FTIR analyser operation or sampling system requirements.
Limited QA/QC and audit defensibility
Without a structured quality management framework, data produced during hire-only deployments may be challenged by regulators.
Increased internal resource requirement
Diverting operational staff from core activities and placing additional pressure on site environmental and engineering teams.
Related Case Study
Remote QA & Monitoring
SOCOTEC's remote FTIR monitoring service is built around a structured quality assurance framework that has been developed and refined across multiple industrial deployments. Every aspect of the service is designed to ensure that data collected during standby or investigative monitoring is as robust, defensible, and audit-ready as data from a permanently installed continuous emissions monitoring system.
This approach directly addresses the risks associated with temporary monitoring deployments, operator error during set-up, undetected analyser drift, inadequate sampling system maintenance, and incomplete documentation. By taking full technical ownership of the monitoring programme, SOCOTEC removes these risks from your site team and ensures that the data produced can withstand regulatory scrutiny.
Remote QA & Monitoring Approach Benefits
Heated sampling system inspection and maintenance
Heated sample lines, probes, and associated components are inspected and maintained during each site visit to prevent condensation, blockage, or thermal degradation that could affect the representativeness of the sample reaching the analyser.
Avoids DIY hire risk
The service is delivered as a fully managed programme using proven methods and configurations. SOCOTEC's specialists have extensive experience deploying FTIR systems across a wide range of industrial processes and emission profiles, removing the operator learning curve and eliminating the set-up errors that commonly affect hire-only deployments.
Regulator-ready approach
QA/QC protocols, documentation, and a complete audit trail are built into the service as standard. Rather than leaving these responsibilities to site teams, who may not have the time, expertise, or resources to manage them effectively, SOCOTEC maintains all records centrally, ensuring they are available for regulatory inspection at any point during or after the deployment.
Daily remote QA
Each day, SOCOTEC's technical team carries out background checks, analyser performance verification, and a detailed review of the monitoring data. Any anomalies, drift events, or system alerts are identified and addressed promptly, preventing the accumulation of poor-quality data that may later be challenged.
O₂ drift correction using traceable gas where required
Where oxygen measurements are used as part of the emissions calculation, SOCOTEC applies drift correction using traceable reference gas standards, ensuring that corrected data meets the accuracy requirements set out in applicable emission limit conditions.
Weekly site visits
In addition to daily remote oversight, SOCOTEC engineers visit site on a weekly basis to carry out hands on calibration checks and system integrity verification. This combination of remote and on-site oversight provides a level of quality assurance that cannot be replicated through equipment hire alone.
Proven Remote Monitoring Deployments
SOCOTEC has delivered remote FTIR monitoring and standby CEMS support across a wide range of industrial sectors and emission profiles. The following deployments illustrate the breadth of applications our service covers, from short term investigative programmes to extended long-term monitoring campaigns.
Each deployment was managed end-to-end by SOCOTEC, with full remote QA oversight, regulator-ready documentation, and on-site support throughout. The variety of determinants monitored, including sulphur compounds, solvents, acid gases, and combustion products, reflects the flexibility of FTIR technology when deployed as part of a properly managed monitoring programme.
Advanced Materials – North West England ~1 month
SOCOTEC deployed an FTIR monitoring system to support a sulphur chemistry investigation at an advanced materials manufacturing facility in the North West of England. The deployment required rapid mobilisation and precise measurement of sulphur-containing compounds across a range of process conditions. SOCOTEC's managed approach ensured that data collected during the investigation was of sufficient quality to support the client's regulatory and process optimisation objectives.
Specialty Chemicals – North East England ~13 months
This long-term deployment involved the use of dual FTIR systems to monitor solvent emissions from a specialty chemicals manufacturing site in the North East of England over a period of approximately 13 months. The extended duration of the programme required a particularly robust remote QA framework to maintain data continuity and audit defensibility throughout. SOCOTEC's daily remote monitoring and weekly site visits ensured that system performance was maintained to the required standard across the full duration of the deployment.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing – Scotland ~11 months
SOCOTEC provided multi-stack FTIR monitoring at a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Scotland, covering both solvent emissions and acid gases across multiple emission points simultaneously. The complexity of the site, including the range of determinants and the number of stacks monitored, required careful system configuration and ongoing expert oversight to ensure that data from all monitoring points remained valid and comparable throughout the programme.
Industrial Chemicals – South East England ~5 weeks
A focused combustion monitoring programme was delivered at an industrial chemicals site in the South East of England using conventional analyser technology. The deployment supported the client's compliance assurance activities during a period when primary monitoring systems were unavailable. SOCOTEC's rapid deployment capability ensured that compliant monitoring data was available with minimal disruption to site operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
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