The Application Of Dynamic Olfactometry In Evaluating The Efficiency Of Purifying Odorous Gases By Biofiltration

Abstract

A widely used method for reducing odor emissions into the air at municipal waste plants is biofiltration. This method allows obtaining high gaseous pollutant removal efficiency at relatively low investment and operating costs. Evaluating the efficiency of a biofilter using dynamic olfactometry is a very useful tool because it allows determining the degree of total deodorization efficiency. Determining the concentrations of individual pollutants does not always give an overall assessment of the degree of olfactory pollution by the gases being emitted, and at the same may not be sufficient in the case of evaluating the efficiency of a deodorization installation. The paper presents the results of the evaluation of biofilter efficiency performed based on olfactometric determinations. The measurements were conducted for biofilter-treated gases emitted from various sources within four municipal waste processing plants. Obtained results indicated the biofiltration efficiency between 60.8 and 97.2% and showed that after the filter bed replacing (organic instead of mineral bed) deodorization efficiency significantly increased. An important aspect of the overall evaluation was the evaluation of odor hedonic quality, due to the frequently intense natural odor of the biofilter bed itself.

Waste Management and Their Environmental Impact: Challenges and Opportunities at National Level

“…Monitoring the pollution of air, soil, subsoil, surface water and groundwater near municipal and industrial landfills is a very important environmental topic. The specialized literature presents numerous studies in this field [24][25][26]. Air pollution can be perceived in the vicinity of industrial pollutants by unpleasant atmosphere and unpleasant odor.…”

“…Therefore, both perceived harmful odors and imperceptible hazardous compounds should be continuously monitored both at the source and in neighboring areas. Nuisance odors control is usually accomplished in industrial settings by gas scrubbing with wet scrubbers or by controlling conditions in anaerobic facilities in such a way that hydrogen sulfide will not be released [24][25][26]. In those conditions the air monitoring pollutants is becoming a stringent necessity.…”

Analysis of legal and technical solutions in terms of odours in Poland

“…For example, the measurements conducted in a factory belonging to the automotive industry on an installation made of a three-degree scrubber, in which the sprinkling liquid was a solution of surfactants of Rokanol group, the odour concentration at the scrubber's inlet was 21722 ou E /m 3 and at the outlet -12127 ou E /m 3 with a given effectivity of gas cleaning at 47%. Furthermore, the research carried out in municipal management objects (waste management plants) in various research scenarios and work conditions of the studied plants pointed out the effectiveness of biofiltration ranging from 61% to 97% and odour concentration at the outlets of the studied biofiltration plants ranging from 404 to as much as 56 360 ou E /m 3 [26]. Exemplary research results obtained from gas samples obtained at the outlets of the biofiltration installations in a chosen wastewater treatment plant in Poland were presented in Table 3.…”

How Can Odors Be Measured? An Overview of Methods and Their Applications

“…Recent examples of the adoption of this technique to test the efficiency of industrial biofilters by means of the characterization of samples collected upstream and downstream from the abatement units was discussed by Gutierrez et al in 2015 [21] and Sowka et al in 2017 [27], proving the applicability of dynamic olfactometry as a tool for performance verification. Moreover, this type of characterization allowed verification of the compliance of the odor concentrations measured at investigated emissions with regulatory limits fixed by the competent authorities.…”