Design and Construction of an Air Quality Monitor for Use on a River

Project Title and Description

Design and Construction of an Air Quality Monitor for Use on a River

The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery is the largest refinery on the eastern seaboard of the United States.  Access to the refinery is limited, and information about the emissions from the refinery are largely self-reported, not measured.  The Schuylkill River is a public waterway and offers the closest access to the refinery.  This Senior Design project will involve the design of an air quality monitoring suite of instruments for use on the river and in nearby neighborhoods.  The team will identify the most important air quality parameters to measure, identify cost effective and suitable instrumentation for the measurements, and design a cost-effective waterproof housing for use on the river that can be attached to, or towed behind a kayak.  This project will likely give students the opportunity to construct this if suitable progress is made in the early part of the year.

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Peter DeCarlo

Please contact the faculty advisor at pfd33@drexel.edu.

Team Make-up by Discipline

Environmental Engineering students only. Not approved for Civil and Architectural Engineering students.