Environmental impact monitoring of port activities in the Cadiz Bay

Deployment of a monitoring network for the environmental control of port activities in the area surrounding the port of the Bay of Cadiz.

Need

The Cadiz Bay Port Authority saw the need to promote digitalisation in its own processes and services.

To this end, the APBC launched the call for “Technical Assistance for the Development and Implementation of the Technology Master Plan within the Framework of processes and services digitalisation of Cadiz Bay Port Authority”, of which Emetel Sistemas S.L. won the contract. Solutions of Kunak Technologies were hired to provide environmental measurement services, specifically the monitoring of pollutant and atmospheric parameters for environmental control in port activities.

This allows real-time monitoring of air quality and noise in the Bay of Cadiz, enabling the detection of critical points and the potential causes of these problems, being able to propose more objective and specific measures for each situation, and influence the improvement of the air quality breathed by the residents and the noise nuisance they may be suffering.

Solution

Deployment of a monitoring network using 4 Kunak AIR Pro stations, powered by a solar panel, for total autonomy, possible to be used for different awareness campaigns as required.

Currently, the APBC only had one official air quality station. The 4 monitoring stations act as a complementary network of the information provided by the reference station, providing more local information and extending the monitoring area.

Locations:

  • Barriada Río San Pedro
  • Cabezuela I (Puerto Real)
  • Cabezuela II (Puerto Real)
  • Viento Levante

At these points, parameters such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter are measured continuously. They also include a wind speed and direction sensor that allows detection of the source of emissions of the different pollutants to be analysed.

Results

  • Deployment of a sensor network with embedded wireless communications during the 4 years of the project.
  • Greater spatial resolution from real-time monitoring of pollution, noise and environmental parameter.
  • Real-time data on diffuse emissions generated in the port area.
  • Control port activities and identify those with the greatest impact or critical points thanks to the Kunak AIR Cloud platform.
  • Operational management and maintenance of the sensor network.
  • Data analysis for the implementation of improvement and mitigation plans or actions.
  • Alarms systems with threshold exceedance alerts and real-time statistics are available.
  • Advanced analysis system of the monitored data in order to ease the decision-making.