Company makes History channel!

A revolutionary gas analyser from leading environmental instrumentation company Quantitech appeared in an episode of a major new History Channel series this week.

The Gasmet DX-4030 gas analyser, along with the company’s Dr Andrew Hobson, appeared in an instalment of the popular History Channel documentary series Ancient Discoveries that aired on Wednesday (28th April) evening.

The company was originally contacted by producers Wild Dream Films last year who were looking for instrumentation to measure toxic gases in air. Gas analysis on emissions from smouldering materials was featured in an episode that recreated the Roman siege of Ambracia in 189BC.

According to Wild Dream Films: “In Roman times there was a siege technique called sapping which involved the excavation of tunnels under fortresses walls in an attempt to destroy them. A method to prevent this was blowing toxic smoke from smouldering chicken feathers and charcoal into the tunnels. The Gasmet DX-4030 from Quantitech allowed us to measure the toxic gases this produced.

“By using the DX-4030 we found that the concentration of toxic gases was extremely high and potentially poisonous. The analyser was very easy to use and enabled us to shed new light on these siege prevention techniques.”

The DX-4030 is a new analyser based on tried and tested Gasmet technology providing both field-usability and high levels of analytical performance. The DX-4030 employs FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy) analysis producing almost instantaneous readings for multiple compounds across a wide measurement range that extends to sub-ppm levels.

It is more commonly used for the analysis of workplace and process gases in applications as diverse as contaminated land, industrial hygiene and chemical spill response. For example, a number of the units were recently acquired by the Environment Agency for deployment in a multi-agency air quality cell that has been created to respond to major incidents affecting air quality.