Environmental odour monitoring by electronic nose

Abstract

Odour emissions from industrial plants affect air quality and are consequently cause of a growing number of public complaints. The control of odour represents a key issue in plant management. The starting point for an effective odour control is their objective measurement. The electronic nose represents probably the odour monitoring technique with the greatest potential, but currently there is not a universally recognized procedure for their application in the continuous characterization of environmental odours. The paper aims to present a novel procedure for training electronic noses in order to maximize their capability of operating a qualitative classification and estimating the odour concentration of ambient air. This novel approach reduces the uncertainty and increases the reliability of the continuous odour measures. The Electronic Nose (E.Nose) seedOA realized by the Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED) of the University of Salerno was applied to a real case in a large wastewater treatment plant. The papers highlights the characterization of the odour concentrations from the different treatment units and the identification of the principal odour sources.