An autonomous flame ionization detector for emission monitoring

Reliable and very sensitive detection of hydrocarbons can be achieved with a flame ionization detector (FID). Due to the required complex gas infrastructure for the operation of an FID, these devices have not been implemented as true field devices yet. Miniaturization by using ceramic multilayer technology leads to a strong reduction of gas consumption and allows autonomous operation of the FID with gas supply by electrolysis and without external gas infrastructure. Therefore, this research enables the use of the FID in the field. Characterization of this miniaturized FID reveals a performance comparable to conventional FIDs.