 Hi! Welcome to OASEM Academy. Let's begin with all you need to know about carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a colorless, odorless, non-irritating and tasteless, poisonous gas composed of one carbon and one oxygen atom. It is naturally present in the atmosphere at very low, safe concentrations of about 0.2 ppm. Now, CO is produced due to the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels such as coal, gasoline, natural gas, oil and wood. If enough oxygen is not available for combustion, it results in the partial oxidation of carbon-containing compounds and results in the production of carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide. The major source of carbon monoxide includes the burning of fossil fuels, specifically from the vehicular exhaust. Now, other sources include volcanoes, forest fires, biomass burning, appliances such as heaters, gas stoves, fireplaces, industrial processes such as metal ore, mining, extraction and refining of oil and gas, and of course power generation. Once released, it remains in the atmosphere for about two months before eventually reacting with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Now, when inhaled, carbon monoxide impairs the oxygen carrying capacity of the body. It replaces the oxygen in the bloodstream and binds itself to hemoglobin to form carboxy hemoglobin. This results in oxygen starvation affecting vital organs like heart, brain and nervous system. Now, high levels of carbon monoxide exposure leading to serious health issues remain undetectable by humans, giving it the name the silent killer. Carbon monoxide monitoring is an efficient way to prevent CO poisoning as it helps detect the buildup of carbon monoxide levels and alerts when a certain level is exceeded. Different working principles for carbon monoxide monitoring in the ambient environment are NDIR, semiconductor and electrochemistry. Oizom measures carbon monoxide on principle of electrochemical sensing. It operates based on diffusion of CO molecules into the sensor which results in the production of an electrical signal proportional to the CO concentration. Now, real-time monitoring of CO levels helps in calculating air quality index to deliver health advisories as well as formulating an action plan to meet standards. Oizom's pollutron is an ambient air quality monitoring system capable of monitoring more than 30 parameters including gaseous pollutants like CO, CO2, SOX, NOx, dust particulates like PM2.5, PM10, noise and weather parameters like rainfall, wind speed and wind direction. Pollutron is deployed across several cities, campuses, universities and is used for drawing actionable insights to tackle the rise in ambient carbon monoxide concentrations. With this, I cover all the important information about carbon monoxide. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us. Thank you and happy learning.