ISO 14385-2:2014

Overview

ISO 14385-2:2014 - "Stationary source emissions - Greenhouse gases - Part 2: Ongoing quality control of automated measuring systems" defines quality assurance (QA) procedures to maintain and demonstrate the required measurement quality of Automated Measuring Systems (AMS) used to determine greenhouse gas concentrations (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O) in flue and waste gases. It is intended to be applied after an AMS has been accepted using ISO 14956 and focuses on ongoing QA of the AMS hardware and measurement performance - not on the plant data collection or recording systems.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Ongoing quality assurance during operation
  • Periodic zero and span checks to detect drift and maintain measurement accuracy.
  • Use of control charts (e.g., Shewhart, EWMA) to monitor stability and precision over time.
  • Guidance on choosing, parameterizing and documenting control charts and control limits.
• Annual Surveillance Test (AST)
  • Functional tests to verify correct operation of the AMS.
  • Parallel measurements against a Standard Reference Method (SRM) to assess validity of measured values.
  • Evaluation of calibration function validity and calculation/testing of measurement variability (standard deviation) as previously determined.
• Scope and limitations
  • Designed to verify that total measurement uncertainty continues to meet regulatory or trading-scheme requirements.
  • Excludes QA of the data acquisition/recording system of the plant; parallel measurement data must be recorded uncorrected.
• Supporting material
  • Annexes provide normative and informative material on functional tests, linearity tests, documentation, Shewhart and EWMA charts, and calculation examples for AMS standard deviation.

Practical applications and users

• Ensures compliance with environmental regulations and emission trading schemes that require reliable greenhouse gas emissions monitoring.
• Primary users:
  • Plant operators and environmental compliance teams managing continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS/AMS).
  • Instrument manufacturers and service providers responsible for calibration and maintenance.
  • Testing laboratories performing SRM comparisons and ASTs.
  • Environmental auditors and regulators verifying ongoing measurement quality.
• Benefits:
  • Maintains demonstrable measurement quality and traceability.
  • Detects instrument drift early, reducing reporting errors and regulatory risk.
  • Provides standardized procedures for ASTs and routine control, supporting consistent QA across installations.

Related standards

• ISO 14385-1 - Calibration of automated measuring systems (precondition for using ISO 14385-2).
• ISO 14956 - Evaluation of the suitability of a measurement procedure by comparison with a required measurement uncertainty (reference for zero/span repeatability).