| Abstract Title: | Where does that smell originate? Continuous odour monitoring or using wind |
| Session Choice: | Other |
| Presenter Name: | Mr Anton van Harreveld |
| Company/Organisation: | Odournet |
| Country: | Holland |
Abstract Information :
The situation where more than one facility releases unwanted odours is very common.
The key question is: was it us or was it some other production facility?
Networks of fenceline air monitoring stations and e-noses have previously been installed,
with a view to answering that question. You need a sufficiently dense network and also
odour events of sufficient odour quantity to be detectable by these devices.
The use of an alternative method using reverse trajectory analysis to determine the line of
travel of the puff of odorous air that caused the offence is less common. It takes a high
resolution, localized non-steady state meteorological model, to reach the accuracy
required to trace back the path of the odour to its potential source. The combination of
accurately reported odour perception events (time and location), preferably using a phone
app with geolocation and an accurate wind field model, can provide useful information for
two purposes:
- The reverse trajectory can serve to confirm or dispel the probability of your facility being the cause of the odour observation. Having a visual analysis of the event as an immediate response to the observer/complainant is a powerful way to demonstrate that your facility staff is 'on the case'
- Analysis of larger numbers of observations, made by either citizen volunteers or paid staff members or panel members, can provide clear and quantitative information on the provenance of odour impacts, attributed to different sources The information can then be used to calculate the frequency of odour impact risk attributed to the different sources in the area.
Using online modelling platforms with an associated reporting app and reverse trajectory analysis is typically much more economical than continuous odour monitoring networks. Examples of online modelling systems will be mentioned. The reverse trajectory analysis used in EnviroSuite will be demonstrated as an example.
