RAMP as a tool for managing and improving environmental performance

Fugitive emissions of particulate matter exist in many industrial activities, and are very relevant in processes involving the movement of materials, such as in mining and steelmaking. The quantification, knowledge, prevention and control of fugitive particulate emissions are complex and challenging tasks.

How to prevent and control air emissions without a tool that enables effective monitoring? In a pioneering and innovative way, EcoSoft developed RAMP: Automatic Network for Monitoring Fugitive Particulate Emissions. After all, it is necessary to measure in order to improve.

The RAMP is composed of a set of measurement stations strategically positioned around the emitting sources of interest. From variations in particulate matter concentrations detected before and after the sources, considering wind conditions, RAMP's computational algorithm, integrated with Ambion, integrates, calculates wind fields and concentrations, and computes particulate matter emission rates dynamically, continuously, and in real time. Data are generated at scheduled time intervals (1, 5, 10 or 15 min) and sent to the Diffuse Emission Supervisory System (DSS).

RAMP can send alerts when the particulate emission rate is higher than a previously established value to those responsible for the affected area, enabling immediate measures to be taken to neutralize the causes of the problem, at the moment of occurrence, avoiding critical air quality alteration events.

All the equipment that makes up a RAMP is designed and built to withstand the harsh operating conditions of the production area for a long period of continuous operation.

RAMP is an innovative solution that has helped companies in one of the most complex environmental management tasks, which is the effective control of fugitive emissions of particulate material, streamlining the use of control measures focused on acting on the needs detected in real time, with security and decision variables always available.

In addition to improving the management of atmospheric emissions in the short term, RAMP allows us to establish the actual gains from the implementation of control measures and assess the long-term evolution of emission rates in monitored areas. With RAMP, improvements in the prevention and control of fugitive emissions are easily demonstrated, making management more assertive, quantitative, and based on facts and data.

RAMP is a solution developed by EcoSoft which was tested and approved in several applications and has helped important companies in Brazil and abroad to face the challenges of monitoring, prevention, control, and management of atmospheric emissions, thus improving environmental performance and contributing to better air quality.