Abstract
Continuous odour measurements both of emissions as well as ambient concentrations are seldom realised, mainly because of their high costs. They are therefore often substituted by concentration measurements of odorous substances. Then a conversion of the chemical concentrations C (mg m-3) into odour concentrations COD (ouE m-3) and odour intensities OI is necessary. Four methods to convert the concentrations of single substances to the odour concentrations and odour intensities of an odorous mixture are investigated: (1) direct use of measured concentrations, (2) the sum of the odour activity value SOAV, (3) the sum of the odour intensities SOI, and (4) the equivalent odour concentration EOC, as a new method. The methods are evaluated with olfactometric measurements of seven substances as well as their mixtures. The results indicate that the SOI and EOC conversion methods deliver reliable values. These methods use not only the odour threshold concentration but also the slope of the Weber-Fechner law to include the sensitivity of the odour perception of the individual substances. They fulfil the criteria of an objective conversion without the need of a further calibration by additional olfactometric measurements.
Highlights
In the field of environmental odour, it is difficult to realise continuous odour measurements of emission as well as ambient concentrations in the vicinity of an odour source
Measurements of the ambient concentration of odorous substances could be used by environmental protection agencies to monitor the odour annoyance caused by a plant at a certain site (e.g. Kabir and Kim (2010), Schauberger et al (2011)), and from ambient concentrations of odorous substances, the emission flow rate could be back-calculated by inverse modelling (e.g. Schauberger et al (2013); Schauberger et al (2008))
The conversion of the concentration measurements of individual substances Ci to odour concentrations of the mixture COD and odour intensity OI is done by the four different methods briefly outlined in the introduction; the equations used are summarised in Tab. 1
Summary
In the field of environmental odour, it is difficult to realise continuous odour measurements of emission as well as ambient concentrations in the vicinity of an odour source. Odour measurements are substituted by concentration measurements of odorous substances. (1) olfactometric measurements need air sampling and several panellists for the measurement, the costs are high, (2) the measurements can only be done discontinuously, and usually inside an odourless laboratory, and (3) in many cases only the emission concentration can be measured, because ambient odour concentrations are often too low to get reliable results (Gostelow et al, 2003). Emission concentration measurements would be required for dispersion modelling to assess the ambient concentration and the related odour annoyance. Measurements of the ambient concentration of odorous substances could be used by environmental protection agencies to monitor the odour annoyance caused by a plant at a certain site
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