Drone-based environmental odour monitoring: SNIFFDRONE

on 23 Novembre 2021.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) produce gaseous emissions that might be olfactory annoying to the surrounding population. Current odour assessment methodologies are based on costly and infrequent olfactometry measurements involving human panels, and continuous monitoring of few gases via fixed gas detectors installed on the plant.

This leads to odour measurements with low temporal and spatial resolution, hindering an accurate characterization of the odour episodes. The main goal of the SNIFFDRONE project, presented in this paper, is to develop a drone with olfaction capabilities to acquire spatially-dense odour measurements and localize the source of odour nuisances in WWTPs.

The odour impact of broiler chickens – comparison of the theoretical approach with field panel measurements according to EN16841-2

on 15 Novembre 2021.

In the Flemish legislation, no odour assessment framework is implemented, despite that odour-related permit applications require the inclusion of an odour impact study. For livestock farming, odour emission factors, derived from olfactometric measurements (ou_E), are widely used. Contrastingly, the available assessment tools, based on earlier odour impact research, utilize sniffing measurements (se).

To allow comparison between the two units of odour, it is assumed that 1 ou_E equals 1 se. For most groups of livestock animals with a rather constant growth cycle (e.g. pigs), this comparison is deemed valid and suitable for evaluating the odour impact. However, the theoretical assessment of broiler chicken emissions can be questioned, as the olfactometric emission factor of 0.33 ou_E/s.animal results in almost no odour impact.

Laboratory and field study on the analyses of siloxanes in biogas by TD-GC-MS

on 15 Novembre 2021.

There is increasing interest in the usage of biogas produced from wastewaters, anaerobic digesters and landfill sites as a source of green energy. Biogas generated from these types of sites require process monitoring due to contamination with siloxanes derived from hygiene products, detergent, antifoams, etc. Siloxanes are troublesome impurities in biogases in engine sources.

The combustion of biogas can lead to deposits of silicon dioxide particles which can cause problems and damage different kind of gas engines or turbines through their build up and via corrosion.The objective of this study was to develop a method on a thermal desorption unit coupled to a gas chromatography and mass spectrometer (TD-GC-MS) to identify and quantify siloxanes present in a representative biogas sample with a low detection limit (µg/m³). Enabling the occurrence of siloxanes in a biogas matrix and efficiency of the removal processes present in the industry to be monitored.