Odour from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills: a study on the analysis of perception

The objective of this work was to develop a relationship between odour intensity and odour concentration by using data collected from various sensitive areas of the municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site. A number of well-known psychophysical models (e.g., Weber-Fechner law, Steven's power law, Beidler's and Laffort's models) have been discussed that can successfully relate the perceived intensity with the odour concentration. Respective parameters for each of the models were estimated by the nonlinear Levenburg-Marquardt parameter estimation method. The overall performance of the model was tested statistically against sets of data from the olfactometry analysis. The model based on the Weber-Fechner law was ranked 1 in case of five out of nine samples and it has been found more representative of the less intense odour samples. The model based on Laffort's equation has represented the intensity-concentration relationship better with extremely low uncertainties on both parameters k1 and k2 for comparatively more intense odour samples.     

Odorous gaseous emissions as influence by process condition for the forced aeration composting of pig slaughterhouse sludge

Compost sustainability requires a better control of its gaseous emissions responsible for several impacts including odours. Indeed, composting odours have stopped the operation of many platforms and prevented the installation of others. Accordingly, present technologies collecting and treating gases emitted from composting are not satisfactory and alternative solutions must be found. Thus, the aim of this paper was to study the influence of composting process conditions on gaseous emissions. Pig slaughterhouse sludge mixed with wood chips was composted under forced aeration in 300 L laboratory reactors. The process conditions studied were: aeration rate of 1.68, 4.03, 6.22, 9.80 and 13.44 L/h/kg of wet sludge; incorporation ratio of 0.55, 0.83 and 1.1 (kg of wet wood chips/kg of wet sludge), and; bulking agent particles size of <10, 10 < 20 and 20 < 30 mm. Out-going gases were sampled every 2 days and their composition was analysed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Fifty-nine compounds were identified and quantified. Dividing the cumulated mass production over 30 days of composting, by odour threshold, 9 compounds were identified as main potential odour contributors: hydrogen sulphide, trimethylamine, ammonia, 2-pentanone, 1-propanol-2-methyl, dimethyl sulphide, dimethyl disulphide, dimethyl trisulphide and acetophenone. Five gaseous compounds were correlated with both aeration rate and bulking agent to waste ratio: hydrogen sulphide, trimethylamine, ammonia, 2-pentanone and 1-propanol-2-methyl. However, dropping the aeration rate and increasing the bulking agent to waste ratio reduced gaseous odour emissions by a factor of 5–10, when the required threshold dilution factor ranged from 10⁵ to 10⁶, to avoid nuisance at peak emission rates. Process influence on emissions of dimethyl sulphide, dimethyl disulphide, dimethyl trisulphide were poorly correlated with both aeration rate and bulking agent to waste ratio as a reaction with hydrogen sulphide was suspected. Acetophenone emissions originated from the wood chips. Olfactory measurements need to be correlated to gaseous emissions for a more accurate odour emission evaluation.     

Assessing the inter-annual variability of separation distances around odour sources to protect the residents from odour annoyance

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about potential impacts on public health and wellbeing due to exposure to environmental odour. Separation distances between odour-emitting sources and residential areas can be calculated using dispersion models, as a means of protecting the neighbourhood from odour annoyance. This study investigates the suitability of using one single year of meteorological input data to calculate reliable direction-dependent separation distances. Accordingly, we assessed and quantified the inter-annual variability of separation distances at two sites with different meteorological conditions, one in Brazil and the other in Austria. A 5-year dataset of hourly meteorological observations was used for each site. Two odour impact criteria set in current regulations were selected to explore their effect on the separation distances. The coefficient of variation was used as a statistical measure to characterise the amount of annual variation. Overall,for all scenarios, the separation distances had a low degree of inter-annual variability(mean coefficient of variation values from 8% to 21%). Reasonable agreements from year to year were therefore observed at the two sites under investigation, showing that one year of meteorological data is a good compromise to achieve reliable accuracy. This finding can provide a more cost-effective solution to calculate separation distances in the vicinity of odour sources.     

Assessing health consequences in an environmental impact assessment: The case of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

In this article a comprehensive approach for the evaluation of possible health effects in an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is described, illustrated with the example of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Unlike many EIAs, we estimated quantitatively the impact of aircraft-related pollution in terms of the number of affected people for aircraft noise annoyance, odour annoyance and hypertension. In addition, an analysis of health registry data on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and a short survey on annoyance and risk perception were carried out. The scope of a health impact assessment depends on the situation, available knowledge and data, concern in the population about the impact and the number of people concerned. It is important to pay attention to the perception of risks and concerns from all parties involved. Moreover, the results demonstrate that far more people outside the area for which standards apply were affected than inside.     

嗅觉适应对恶臭分析的影响初探

依据《三点比较式臭袋法》(GB/T 14675-93),对不同浓度的嗅辨样品进行分组嗅辨,考察不同性别、不同年龄对嗅辨样品、嗅辨结果准确性的影响。结果表明,嗅辨员年纪越轻,越不易产生嗅觉适应;男性嗅辨员嗅觉适应的出现也往往早于女性嗅辨员;高浓度的样品嗅辨员比较容易出现嗅觉适应,低浓度的样品嗅觉适应情况均不明显。当嗅辨员在连续较长时间嗅辨或嗅辨较多数量样品后,都会明显出现嗅觉适应的情况。为保证实验数据的准确性,建议嗅辨员的嗅辨时间应控制在1h内,嗅辨样品数不要超过20个。     

硫化物恶臭气体的生物处理机理与应用

致臭的含硫化合物，尤其是二甲基硫化物的生物处理去除率较低，通过分离鉴定或悬浮，附着生长培养等手段，发展能降解气相硫化物的主要是化能自养型和甲基营养型的微生物，它们能将硫化物定量地氧化为SO4^2-和CO2，大部分能降解甲基硫化物的微生物，其适宜PH为中性，甲硫醇和硫化氢是二甲基硫代谢的中间体，参与二甲基硫代的酶系统不稳定，是处理效果不佳的主要原因，利用纯细胞接种，可有效地提高生物过滤器的脱臭效果，今后可从高效菌选育和固定化方式的改进等方面，进一步提高气相含硫恶臭物的生物处理效果。     

Effects of water washing on removing organic residues in bottom ashes of municipal solid waste incinerators

Due to their potential toxicity and odourous nature, the residual organics in municipal solid waste incinerators are recently gaining attention as an important issue of resources recovery apart from their complex mixture of organic counterpart. Studies of the organic fractions in municipal solid waste incinerator residues have been limited. In this study, extended solid-phase extraction of the water-washed bottom ash and liquid-phase extraction of the washing water were carried out with regard to bottom ash samples from three mass-burning incinerators in Taipei County (Taiwan) during four consecutive seasons of year 2008-2009. Supercritical fluid extraction and Soxtec extraction techniques along with GC-MS were successfully used to characterize the residual organics in weathered and washed bottom ashes. Supercritical fluid extraction provided the quantification of aliphatics and aromatic compounds such as hexanoic acid and benzaldehyde, respectively. Soxtec extraction was useful for qualitative analysis of aromatic and aliphatic groups in the ashes and many of which were odourous and toxic compounds. By mixing one unit weight (g) bottom ash with two unit volume (mL) water for 15 min, total organic carbon in the bottom ash was greatly reduced (e.g., from 4.1 to 1.8 wt.%). Among the removed were foul odour-causing compounds such as pyridine and quinoline derivatives, while some aromatic compounds such as 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and low-molecular-weight aliphatics such as hexanoic acid remained. The results here suggest that washing with water can be an effective pre-treatment step for removing odour-causing and environmental concerned organics.     

直接采样法确定面源恶臭挥发率的研究进展

确定面源恶臭挥发率的方法一般有两种:间接采样法和直接采样法.直接采样法由于具有许多优点而得到了广泛的应用.采样设备的选择会影响到恶臭样品的组成,通过对比可知,由动态采样器和静态采样器确定的恶臭挥发率的结果是不同的.用风洞法确定的恶臭挥发率与用问接法确定的恶臭挥发率有较好的一致性,可以作为恶臭扩散模型的输入参数.