Odour nuisance assessment of the food industry wastewater treatment plant

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław, Poland

^* Corresponding author: agnieszka,grzelka@pwr.edu.pl

Abstract

Odour nuisance generated by food industry objects is a significant problem, the result of which is often numerous complaints from local residents about the quality of air. Apart from the production process, this problem often concerns industrial wastewater treatment processes, which contribute to a large extent to the emissions of odorants from the sulphur group, including hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans. In order to estimate the odorous air quality around these types of objects, the modelling of dispersion of pollutants: odours or odorants is often used. The paper presents the results of tests on odour emission as well as hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans emission as compounds typical for waste gases from the sewage treatment process from the food industry. In order to estimate the range of odour impact, model calculations using the Polish reference model for the aforementioned substances were made. The values of annual average concentrations and frequency of odour detection thresholds for odorants and odour concentration of 1 ouE/m³ for odours as a mixture in a computational grid of 1400 m x 1400 m with a step of 50 m were calculated. The results showed the highest range of odour impact of mercaptans, whose value of the average annual concentration exceeded the odour detection threshold up to 700 m in the east and west direction from the emission source.