The Use of the Odor Profile Method with an “Odor Patrol” Panel to Evaluate an Odor Impacted Site near a Landfill

Evaluation of three granular activated carbon filters for the treatment of collections foul air entering a water resource recovery facility

The treatment of raw foul air that could escape to the atmosphere from the head space of the incoming wastewater sewer lines into a Southern California Water Resource Recovery Facility was evaluated by using a 1/20th scale pilot unit consisting of three different granular activated carbon filter technologies, operating side by side, under similar operating conditions, each having an average 3.8-s contact time. The three activated carbon filters contained each 0.07 m3 of coconut, coal, and coconut mixed with permanganate media. The foul air entering the granular activated carbon filters contained 82% to 83% relative humidity. No moisture removal mechanism was used prior to treatment. The removal of six different odor characters from eight chemical odorants present in the foul air were assessed. These were rotten egg (hydrogen sulfide), rotten vegetables (methyl mercaptan), canned corn (dimethyl sulfide), rotten garlic (dimethyl disulfide), earthy/musty (2-methyl isoborneol and 2-isopropyl 3-methoxy pyrazine), and fecal (skatole and indole). This is the first time a study evaluates the removal of specific odors by simultaneously employing sensory analyses using the odor profile method, which defines the different odor characters and intensities, together with chemical analyses of the odorants causing these odors. The results show that the three granular activated carbon filters, before hydrogen sulfide breakthrough, provided significant improvement in odor intensity and odorant removal. Breakthrough was reached after 57 days for the coconut mixed with permanganate, 107 days for the coconut, and 129 days for the coal granular activated carbon filter. Breakthrough (the critical saturation point of the activated carbon media) was considered reached when the hydrogen sulfide percentage removal diminished to 90% and continued downward. The coconut mixed with permanganate granular activated carbon filter provided the best treatment among the media tested, achieving very good reduction of odorants, as measured by chemical analyses, and reasonable removal of odor intensities, as measured by the odor profile method. The coconut mixed with permanganate granular activated carbon is recommended for short-term odor control systems at sewer networks or emergency plant maintenance situations given its shorter time to breakthrough compared with the other granular activated carbons. The coal and coconut granular activated carbon filters are generally used as the last stage of an odor treatment system. Because of the observed poor to average performance in removing odorants other than hydrogen sulfide, the treatment stage(s) prior to the use of these granulated activated carbons should provide a good methyl mercaptan removal of at least 90% in order to avoid the formation of dimethyl disulfide, which, in the presence of moisture in the carbon filter, emit the characteristic rotten garlic odor. The differences observed between the performances based on odorant removal by chemical analysis compared with those based on sensorial analyses by the odor profile method indicate that both analyses are required to understand more fully the odor dynamics. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Three virgin granulated activated carbon media were evaluated in a field pilot unit using raw collections foul air. Coal, coconut, and coconut mixed with permanganate were tested until breakthrough. Samples were analyzed both chemically (odorants) and sensorially (odors). Coconut mixed with permanganate proved to be the media that better reduced odorants and odors.

A new method for evaluating nuisance of odorants by chemical and sensory analyses and the assessing of masked odors by olfactometry

The odor threshold concentration and the odor nuisance concentration of the nine persistent odorants at two wastewater treatment facilities were determined by Weber- Fechner curves for each odorant using dynamic olfactometry combined with the odor profile method. The odor threshold concentration results, representing each odorant's concentration at odor intensity of one (I = 1), were within range in the literature. The nuisance concentrations were determined by interpolation along the curves intersecting with the arbitrary odor intensity of three (I = 3). There is no reference that exists in the literature about determining odor nuisance concentrations for a complete set of odorants from any facility. The nuisance concentration results presented here are novel to odor control because they can provide information defining the nuisance odorant's isopleths in modeling and in designing effective odor control systems that avoid public nuisance. Dynamic olfactometry combined with the odor profile method was also used with actual foul air samples from different sources. When analyzed from raw to increased dilution, it was observed that the fecal and sulfur odors initially prominent (with no musty odors detected) gradually changed with increased dilution. Musty odors began to gradually appear while the fecal and sulfur odors became undetectable. We named this observation the "peeling of an onion effect". It is speculated that this occurs because the musty odors in the concentrated foul air sample are masked by the fecal and the sulfur odors.

Environmental Odour

Environmental odour is perceived as a major nuisance by the rural and urban population [...]