A Refinery Sector Rule (RSR) fenceline monitoring program managed by a Trihydro client, was petitioned and granted an Site-Specific Monitoring Plan (SSMP) at their Texas refinery. The SSMP provided specific conditions that when met, could justify applying a corrected benzene concentration to their biweekly Delta C calculation. However, ensuring compliance was a laborious task. Every two weeks, following each monitoring period, they had to manually track every data point, verify it met the SSMP conditions, and then perform the corrected Delta C calculation – all within spreadsheets and with email for data transfer. This manual process was time-consuming, inefficient, and prone to errors due to human involvement.
Trihydro’s air quality specialists and technology development team worked together to establish a connection to each of the continuous data sources and set up access for the laboratory to upload results as soon as they were available. After carefully reviewing each component of the SSMP, Trihydro developed business logic within Fenceline Pro™ to automate the corrected benzene calculation, applying each of the conditions outlined in the SSMP. Once the analytical data was uploaded from the passive tube sampling, the corrected benzene calculation was applied, and the Delta C was calculated according to the RSR fenceline reporting requirements. The client confirmed that the calculation and SSMP methodology were correct and Trihydro verified with the EPA that the Delta C was correctly reported.
Trihydro launched the custom SSMP feature within Fenceline Pro™. The new feature streamlined the client's Delta C tracking through intuitive analytical trends and mapping functions. The system also provided automatic alerts if the Delta C surpassed the action level, prompting potential root cause investigations by the client. Furthermore, the calculation featured automated site-specific adjustments, ensuring these adjustments were reflected in trends, analysis, and CEDRI reports. By housing all fenceline monitoring program requirements and SSMP specifications within a single data management solution, Trihydro not only improved the client's data quality, but also simplified their reporting processes, leading to significant annual cost savings.