Water & Wastewater Asia May/Jun 2021

HOTSEAT WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MAY/JUNE 2021
FLYING
HIGH WITH
Crowcon
With a portfolio spanning a diverse set of
industries – from water to winery – Crowcon
Detection Instruments is dedicated to
supporting organisations in safety through
their gas detection technologies.
Speaking to Regional Manager Melina Ho,
Water & Wastewater Asia finds out more
about what Crowcon has to offer to the water
treatment industry.
To start off, could you tell us more about
what Crowcon does?
Crowcon is a gas detection company; we
have a mission to protect and save peoples’
lives with our products. Our products are
mainly personal gas detectors that help
to detect flammable gases, toxic gases,
before they can be harmful to humans. So,
personal detectors as well as fixed detectors
that can be used to protect humans from
harmful gases. We also do control panels and
sampling systems.
When it comes to the water treatment
industry, what hazards do harmful gases
pose?
We have heard of many chemical leaks, for
example chlorine and sodium hypochlorite
leaking in the storage system – they can
be harmful to humans and even result in
fatalities. When you have a reliable gas
detection system, you’re alerted to the
harmful gases that might be leaking out
before you’re exposed to them at all.
So, gas detection is absolutely essential when
you’re working with harmful chemicals, or
even in the wastewater treatment industry
when you have flammable gases like methane,
ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and so on, that
is being emitted from the wastewater. This
helps to protect operators, and the plant in
general.
In a worst-case scenario, you have a loss
of life, which we definitely want to avoid.
We don’t want that to happen. In all water
treatment plants, there are chemicals around,
so we see some new members come in
and introduce things like chemical dosing
pumps, storage systems, and gas detection
complements it. In a chemical storage plant,
when there is a leak, gas detection systems
will pick it up and alert the user.
Do you have any case studies to share
with us?
We’ve been working with the Public Utilities
Board (PUB) for over 15 years, what we do is
provide gas detection – especially for methane
and hydrogen sulphide – in the manholes,
in the sump pump. In the pumping stations
where the pump is located underground, you
will always have methane gas coming out
from the sewer. So, before an engineer is sent
down to service the pump, the gas detection
system monitors the quality of the air down
in the sewers, to make sure that there is no
flammable gas like methane, or other toxic
gases present. This keeps the operator safe,
and protects the equipment as well.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Going forward, Crowcon is moving into
environmental monitoring – in terms of gas
detection, that’s our core product, and we’re
hopefully going to move into environmental
monitoring in terms of odour, toxic gases
and other harmful gases. So, we’re looking
forward to packaging ourselves as a one-stop
solution to help companies deal with odour
problems!
For example, imagine an area where you
have a treatment plant, and your neighbours
are complaining about the smell coming out
from the pipes – but you’re not even sure if
it’s from you! Our solution, hopefully, is to
pinpoint what type of gases are causing any
odour, and where it’s coming from. What
we’re hoping to provide is peace of mind, for
operators to analyse the results and say, this
is the source of the odour, and these are the
types of gases that are causing the smell.
That will be our next step forward, for
Crowcon.
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