Abstract
Since electronic noses are used more and more for air quality monitoring purposes, and in some countries are starting to have a legal value, there is a need for standardization and programs for the quality verification of instruments. Such quality programs have the aim to guarantee the main characteristics of the instrument for both the final user and local authorities, let the user establish a suitable maintenance procedure and give information on measurement uncertainty. One critical aspect when dealing with electronic noses for environmental odour monitoring is that environmental odours are complex mixtures that are not repeatable nor reproducible, giving that they are not suitable for quality verifications. This paper aims to review and discuss the different approaches that can be adopted in order to perform quality checks on electronic noses (e-noses) used for environmental odour monitoring, thereby referring to existing technical standards, such as the Dutch NTA 9055:2012, the new German VDI 3518-3:2018, and the Italian UNI 1605848 project, which directly refer to electronic noses. Moreover, also the European technical standards that are prescriptive for automatic measuring systems (AMSs) are taken into consideration (i.e., EN 14181:2014 and EN 15267:2009), and their possible applicability to electronic noses is investigated. Finally, the pros and cons of the different approaches are presented and discussed in the conclusions section.
Highlights
Since the first report of an electronic nose based on chemical sensors and pattern recognition in 1982 [1], the instruments have experienced a significant development; they have been studied by several research groups over the world for a number of diverse possible applications in different sectors
This paper aims to review and discuss the different approaches that can be adopted in order to perform quality checks on electronic noses (e-noses) used for environmental odour monitoring, thereby referring to existing technical standards, such as the Dutch NTA 9055:2012, the new German VDI 3518-3:2018, and the Italian UNI 1605848 project, which directly refer to electronic noses
Besides the technical documents or standardization attempts described above, which are related directly to electronic noses, but not necessarily to air quality monitoring, other technical norms exist that refer to other instrumentation for air quality monitoring, which can be considered as inspiring for the development of quality protocols for electronic noses to be used in the field of environmental odour monitoring
Summary
Since the first report of an electronic nose based on chemical sensors and pattern recognition in 1982 [1], the instruments have experienced a significant development; they have been studied by several research groups over the world for a number of diverse possible applications in different sectors. The first part (Section 2) represents a state-of-the-art overview of how, in the last 15 years, electronic noses for environmental odour monitoring have evolved from a purely scientific and research level to become proper air quality monitoring tools used by plant operators as well as by local authorities for the management of odour issues through quantification of exposure or identification of emission sources. It is worth highlighting that such prescriptions involving the installation of an electronic nose for continuous odour measurement around some plants (and landfills) are becoming a common trend in the Region of Puglia, in Southern Italy
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