IRLAM Overview
Gas analysis is an indispensable technology in all industries. In recent years, gas analysis has been playing an extremely important role in the development of next-generation energy sources such as hydrogen, which is accelerating around the world with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality, as well as in the monitoring of industrial processes and the strengthening of environmental regulations from the perspective of saving energy and resources and reducing environmental impact.
HORIBA has a history of more than 65 years in the field of infrared gas analysis and has contributed to global environmental protection and the development of industry and science technology in various ways. Nowadays, more accurate gas analysis technology is required in various fields such as automotive industry and petrochemical plants.
In 1965, HORIBA commercialized the first domestic automobile emission gas analyzer (CO, CO2, HC analyzer) in response to the growing need for emissions gas measurement triggered by the start of automobile emissions regulations in the United States. Since then, HORIBA has continued to develop various analyzers and sampling technologies in response to the increased number of regulated components and the tightening of regulatory values. In particular, our main product in the automotive field, the engine emissions measurement device for laboratory testing, has been adopted by certification bodies in many countries around the world, accounting for 80% of the global market share (according to our own research in 2020).
In recent years, however, regulations for greenhouse gases (N2O, etc.) have been introduced in addition to those for conventional air pollutants, and real road emissions regulations (RDE regulations) have begun to be adopted in many countries.
HORIBA positions IRLAM as a next-generation technology (Advanced NDIR) that provides the best solution to the issues of measurement components and measurement accuracy that are difficult with a conventional NDIR.
HORIBA will sequentially launch a lineup of products that apply IRLAM technology allowing the measurement in preparation for RDE regulations, which are expected to be introduced or strengthened by 2030, and contribute to the improvement of environmental performance of vehicles with engines, which is an important issue for the entire automotive industry to achieve lower emissions even as the electrification of vehicles progresses.
Ingredients for which regulations are currently being considered (regulations have already been introduced in some countries/regions):
In petrochemical plants, productivity improvement, quality improvement, and reduction of environmental impact are urgent issues that require optimization of the manufacturing process control of petrochemical products. In order to optimize process control, new solutions that enable continuous measurement with higher sensitivity, stability, and speed are required.
HORIBA will provide process laser analyzers equipped with IRLAM technology as a new measurement solution for specific processes in petrochemical plants. For example, in the ethylene (C2H4) production process, low concentrations (ppb level) of acetylene (C2H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are contained as impurities in high concentration (% level) methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6), which are material gases. By using a process laser analyzer equipped with IRLAM technology, the gas concentrations of materials and impurities in this process can be measured continuously with a fast response time (gas replacement in 3 seconds). In addition, impurity gas concentrations can be continuously measured with high sensitivity (ppb level). These measurement data can contribute to the optimization of process control.
Benefits of Laser Analyzers with IRLAM for Process Use:
Example of measurement results of formaldehyde (HCHO) in a vehicle exhaust gas test: Detection sensitivity improved by more than 10 times compared to our conventional IR gas analysis technology (FTIR).
Example of test results of interference effects in a nitrous oxide (N2O) analyzer: Achieving nearly zero interfering gas effects, which was not possible with our conventional IR gas analysis technology (NDIR).
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