Baird lands Caltex contract

BTEX sampling rolled out in Cape Town

ECOSERV's fledgling Cape Town branch has landed an annual contract performing BTEX sampling for Caltex Oil, extending ECOSERV's niche customer portfolio of petroleum refineries.

ECOSERV Director Mark Baird, who has been based in Cape Town for only a year but is recognized by city health officials for his Brown Haze thesis, will be assisting Caltex Oil in the setting up and management of a passive BTEX sampling network in Milnerton. ECOSERV is currently conducting similar campaigns for Engen and SAPREF in Durban .

“It is pleasing that the work ECOSERV has performed to such good effect in the Durban South area can be rolled out into Cape Town ,” Mark said shortly after wrapping up the deal.

In terms of the contract, ECOSERV will measure the benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) concentrations on the fenceline of the Tableview refinery to measure the impact on residents. “Residents are living close to the refinery and a community group has requested that volatile organic compounds are monitored,” says Mark.

ECOSERV will manage the collection and deployment of BTEX samplers at 10 locations: three at selected Cape Metropolitan Council sites and seven at the fenceline between the refinery and residents. Fenceline positions will be based on major wind directions as advised by the Cape Metropolitan Council.

“The BTEX sampler is passive,” says Mark. “It does not have a pump and works on the diffusion of gas from the air into the sampler. Diffusive monitoring provides a cost-effective approach to monitoring atmospheric concentrations of VOCs.”

Samplers will be collected at two-week intervals and 20 samples will be submitted each month to UK laboratories for analysis of BTEX compounds. Comprehensive monthly reports will be produced. A further ten samples will be submitted each quarter for a more detailed volatile organic compound analysis. This sampling methodology will follow European (CEN) standards (EN482 and EN13528).

ECOSERV intends to offer its full range of services to the Western Cape market as of mid-2005. Annegarn Environmental Research (AER) has clients in Stellenbosch which are currently serviced by ECOSERV.  The Drakenstein Municipality , whose head office is in Paarl, has appointed ECOSERV with the development of its air quality management plan information gathering. The office will be managed by Mark.