Pollution Control Board gets VOC machines

The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has acquired a handheld Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) machine at a cost of Rs 4 lakh that can measure multiple compounds and detect alarming levels of critical volatile organic compounds.In the past, the pollution control board officials had to collect samples from industrial areas manually and it would take a couple of days and sometimes even a week to get results.

With the procurement of the VOC machines, the job becomes easy for officials. N Raveendhar, senior environmental scientist with TSPCB said, “The VOC has been tested at Bachupally with good results. What is good about the machine is one can even test the required compound and get results immediately.”

In the last few months the TSPCB received a lot of flak from people living in the vicinity of industrial areas complaining of foul smell. Officials at the PCB are upbeat as the machine is handy and portable.The TSPCB has ordered for 12 machines that are not available in India. A Singapore-based company is supplying the machines and is expected to arrive in a couple of months. In the meantime, the only VOC machine would be put to use said officials.

The present machine that is available is a two-gas machine but the new one can test multiple compounds. Many pollution control boards across the country already have VOC machines that help in testing cancerous volatile organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, benzene, methylene, chloride and perchlorethylene. The VOC machine can measure upto 250 chemicals.

In the last six months, the TSPCB has been receiving at least a complaint every third day from residents in the Greater Hyderabad region with majority of the complaints pertaining to smelly gases in the air. Officials say that the first priority would be to use the VOC machines in Patancheru, Balanagar and Bollarum areas. There are also plans to connect the analysers online so that real time monitoring would be done.