POTENTIAL OF A NETWORK OF ELECTRONIC NOSES TO ASSESS IN REAL TIME THE ODOUR ANNOYANCE IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF A COMPOST FACILITY

in Del Rosso, Renato (Ed.) Chemical engineering transactions : NOSE2012 International Conference on Environmental Odour (2012, September)

Evaluation of an electronic nose for the early detection of organic overload of anaerobic digesters

in Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering (2012)

This study aims at the analysis of the utilization of an electronic nose (e-nose) to serve as a specific monitoring tool for anaerobic digestion process, especially for detecting organic overload. An ... [more ▼]

This study aims at the analysis of the utilization of an electronic nose (e-nose) to serve as a specific monitoring tool for anaerobic digestion process, especially for detecting organic overload. An array of non specific metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors were used to detect process faults due to organic overload events in twelve anaerobic semi-continuous reactors of 1.8 L. Three different load strategies were followed (i) a cautious organic load (1.3 gVS•L-1•day-1); (ii), an increasing load strategy (1.3 to 5.3 gVS∙L-1•day-1) and (iii) a cautious organic load with load pulses of up to 12 gVS•L-1•day-1. A first monitoring campaign was conducted with three different substrates : sucrose, maize oil, and a mix of sucrose/oil during 60 days. The second campaign was run with dry sugar beet pulp during 45 days. Hotelling's T²-value and upper control limit to a reference set of digesters fed with a cautious OLR (1.3 gVS•L-1•day-1), was used as indirect state variable of the reactors. Overload situations were identified by the e-nose apparatus with Hotelling’s T²-values at least 4-times higher in magnitude than the upper control limit of 23.7. These results confirmed that the e-nose technology appeared promising for online detection of process imbalances in the domain of anaerobic digestion. [less ▲]

Possibilités et limites des nez électroniques pour la mesure des odeurs.

Conference (2012, March 15)

The communication aimed at presenting the potential of electronic noses to monitor environmental odours. The advantages and the limits of the concept were presented together with the point of view of a ... [more ▼]

The communication aimed at presenting the potential of electronic noses to monitor environmental odours. The advantages and the limits of the concept were presented together with the point of view of a company specialized in odour measurement. [less ▲]

Quatrième campagne de mesure des odeurs sur le CET "Champ de Beaumont" à Monceau-sur-Sambre Estimation et monitoring des nuisances olfactives

Report (2011)

The study is conducted in the frame of a programme of monitoring of all landfill sites in Wallonia. The "odour" part is assigned to ULg. The present report concerns more particularly a fourth campaign on ... [more ▼]

The study is conducted in the frame of a programme of monitoring of all landfill sites in Wallonia. The "odour" part is assigned to ULg. The present report concerns more particularly a fourth campaign on the site of "Champ de Beaumont at Monceau-sur-Sambre. Besides the usual field inspection technique, the research group has used electronic noses to monitor the emissions of odours near the source so as the analysis of complaints in the surroundings. [less ▲]

The future European standard to determine odour in ambient air by using field inspection

in Proceedings of the 4th IWA specialized conference on odours and VOCs, Vitoria, Brazil, 17-21 October, 2011. (2011, October)

This paper presents the methodologies to determine odour in ambient air by field inspection that will be a new European standard. The objective is to characterize the odour in a defined area. Without ... [more ▼]

This paper presents the methodologies to determine odour in ambient air by field inspection that will be a new European standard. The objective is to characterize the odour in a defined area. Without making a link with potential annoyance due to the presence of odours, the described methods propose the way to characterize an exposed environment. Two approaches are defined in the new standard: the grid method and the plume method. The grid method can be used determine the exposure to ambient odours in a defined area of study, using direct observation of recognizable odours in the field by human panel members. This method must be applied over a sufficiently long period of time (6 or 12 months) to be representative for the meteorological conditions of that location. The result is the distribution of the frequency of exposure to odours within the assessment area. The plume method can be used to determine the extent of detectable and recognizable odours from a specific source using direct observation in the field by human panel members under specific meteorological conditions. [less ▲]

Spatial and temporal propagation of Cryptosporidium and Giardia at various scales in a drinking water reservoir

Conference (2011, September)

Cryptosporidium and Giardia are emergent protozoan parasites of faecal origin causing diarrhoeal diseases throughout the world. Their impact on public health is closely linked to the management of water ... [more ▼]

Cryptosporidium and Giardia are emergent protozoan parasites of faecal origin causing diarrhoeal diseases throughout the world. Their impact on public health is closely linked to the management of water resources and both pathogens are continuously released in the environment by punctual and diffuse faecal pollution sources. With the amendment of the Water Safety Plans published by the World Health Organization in 2005, the assessment of the public health risk associated with the presence of both parasites has extended to watershed scale. In Luxembourg, the Upper-Sûre reservoir provides 50% of the population of the country with drinking water. The presence of both Cryptosporidium and Giardia in surface water within the catchment area has been documented earlier. The aim of this study was therefore to understand the propagation of both protozoans within the catchment area over time and space. Integrated into a risk assessment-based approach, the results are intended for establishing an efficient monitoring strategy. Currently, no such strategy is available for water utilities. Though it is a crucial tool for improving the management of drinking water resources because it should alert responsible authorities in case of high contamination risk and prevent from possible waterborne outbreaks. [less ▲]

Convention de sous-traitance "FIDOR-Action" Etude de faisabilité du FIDOR dans le milieu récepteur de différents sites industriels et de sa capacité à agir sur la réduction de l'odeur.

Report (2011)

The report presents the results of a study conducted in the waste treatment facility of Habay and is the continuation of a former study which was aiming at designing the e-nose network named FIDOR. The ... [more ▼]

The report presents the results of a study conducted in the waste treatment facility of Habay and is the continuation of a former study which was aiming at designing the e-nose network named FIDOR. The present study concerns the ability of the FIDOR concept to forecast the odour annoyance in the surroundings and to control an odour abatement technique. An important part of the report concerns the validation of the predicted odour plume with resident observations. The report is the property of the company Odometric which commissioned the study. [less ▲]

Anaerobic digestion process monitoring: focus on the gas phase using electronic nose technology

in GERBIO (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Congress Progress in Biogas 2011 - part 1 (2011, March 31)

Gas phase of four pilot-scale anaerobic reactors was monitored with a gas sensors array, also called electronic nose (e-nose) over three weeks. CH4, CO2, H2S, H2 concentration in the gas phase and biogas ... [more ▼]

Gas phase of four pilot-scale anaerobic reactors was monitored with a gas sensors array, also called electronic nose (e-nose) over three weeks. CH4, CO2, H2S, H2 concentration in the gas phase and biogas production rate were also measured. Reactors were exposed to process disturbances by doubling the organic loading rate and by decreasing the temperature from 38 to 32°C for 24 hours. During these tests, sludge pH and alkalinity were also measured. When organic loading was doubled, no changes were observed in pH and alkalinity, while hydrogen content in gas phase increased by 20% and took 8 hours to recover stable values of 130 ppm. Hydrogen sulphide also increased proportionally to organic loading of the reactors and took two days to return to stable values. Methane and carbon dioxide ratio changed from 1.2 to 0.95. No changes were observed during the temperature drop of the digesters apart from hydrogen concentration which increased sharply several hours. Electronic nose was able to detect variations in organic loading rates for the four anaerobic reactors, with increased signals for higher organic loadings of the pilots. Sensing of gas phase of anaerobic reactors was able to discriminate disorders of operating conditions of anaerobic reactors, especially organic loading. [less ▲]

Quatrième campagne de mesure des odeurs sur le CET "Cour-au-Bois" à Braine-le-Château Estimation des nuisances olfactives

Report (2010)

The study is conducted in the frame of a programme of monitoring of all landfill sites in Wallonia. The "odour" part is assigned to ULg. The present report concerns more particularly a fourth campaign on ... [more ▼]

The study is conducted in the frame of a programme of monitoring of all landfill sites in Wallonia. The "odour" part is assigned to ULg. The present report concerns more particularly a fourth campaign on the site of "Cour au Bois" at Braine-le-Château. Besides the usual field inspection technique, the research group has conducted a survey in the neighbouring to assess the global odour annoyance generated by the landfill site. [less ▲]

Potential of the Electronic Nose as a Tool for the Detection of Disturbances in Anaerobic Digestion Processes

in IWWG (Ed.) Venice 2010 Third International Symposium on Energy from Biomass and Waste (2010, November)

Most of agricultural biogas plants do not operate at optimum loading rate to avoid overload and process failure. This study aims at the development of an electronic nose technology to serve as a specific ... [more ▼]

Most of agricultural biogas plants do not operate at optimum loading rate to avoid overload and process failure. This study aims at the development of an electronic nose technology to serve as a specific monitoring tool for anaerobic digestion processes. Twelve semi-continuous anaerobic mini-digesters (1.6 L useful capacity) were fed with three different substrates: sucrose, maize oil and a mix 1:1 of sucrose and maize oil. Two feeding strategies were followed (i) a cautious organic load (1.3 gVS.L-1.day-1) and (ii) an increasing load strategy (1.3 to 5.33 gVS.L-1.day-1). Digesters were monitored during two months by analysing the biogas composition and collecting electronic nose measurements. The electronic nose was able to detect the impact of organic load variations. Overload situations were distinguished by the e-nose apparatus and the different feeding substrates induced distinct responses from the e-nose system. [less ▲]