Compost Pile Monitoring Using Different Approaches:GC-MS, E-nose and dynamic olfactometry

in Waste and Biomass Valorization (2013)

The evaluation of odour emissions associated to the composting process is complex because these emissions depend on several factors such as the raw material to be composted, the different stages of the ... [more ▼]

The evaluation of odour emissions associated to the composting process is complex because these emissions depend on several factors such as the raw material to be composted, the different stages of the composting process, meteorological conditions, and others. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to compare complementary approaches to monitor odours. The odour source selected for this study is green waste compost at different maturity stages. The study site is a composting facility located in the south of Belgium. The compared approaches were: a portable e-nose developed by the Environmental Monitoring Research team (Arlon, Belgium) to monitor odorous emissions from the composting piles; chemical analyses performed in the laboratory using a GC–MS (manufactured by Thermo) to analyse volatile organic compounds which were collected by active sampling on Tenax TA sorbent simultaneously to the in situ e-nose measurements and olfactometric measurements to determine the odour concentration (ouE/m3) using the Odile olfactometer (Odotech). The portable e-nose was also used in the laboratory with compost odour samples collected in bags. The large numbers of data sets obtained were explored by statistical methods such as principal components analysis. The results obtained highlight the advantages of monitoring the composting process with these three approaches. Each approach gives different information about the composting process and the emissions generated. While the e-nose is capable of identifying some chemical family emissions and some activities such as turning steps, the GC–MS identifies each chemical compound emitted and dynamic olfactometry quantifies the odour concentration (ouE/m3) in relationship with these emissions. [less ▲]

8.3 Landfill of Solid Waste

in Belgiorno, V (Ed.) Odour Impact Assessment Handbook (2013)

APPLICATION OF CHEMICAL MASS BALANCE METHODOLOGY TO IDENTIFY THE DIFFERENT SOURCES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OLFACTORY ANNOYANCE AT A RECEPTOR-SITE

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 ▲]

Compost pile monitoring with GC-MS, e-nose and olfactometry : comparison of different approaches

in Trémier, Anne; Dabert, Patrick; Druilhe, Céline (Eds.) et al Book of abstracts of the 8th international conference ORBIT2012 (2012)

This paper proposes a comparison of complementary approaches to monitor the odours : e-nose, olfactometry and GC-MS. The odour source selected for this study is a green waste compost at different maturity ... [more ▼]

This paper proposes a comparison of complementary approaches to monitor the odours : e-nose, olfactometry and GC-MS. The odour source selected for this study is a green waste compost at different maturity stages. The study site is a composting facility, located in the south of Belgium. [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 ▲]

Gas sensor array applied to the monitoring of biogas process

in Gouma, Perena (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose 2011 (2011, May)

There is a lack of simple online monitoring system to control the performances of biogas reactors. The electronic nose technology appears to be an adapted device to deliver fast information about process ... [more ▼]

There is a lack of simple online monitoring system to control the performances of biogas reactors. The electronic nose technology appears to be an adapted device to deliver fast information about process disturbances in anaerobic reactors as it is adequate for online monitoring. In this study, twelve anaerobic mini-reactors were supervised with a home-made e-nose to observe process reaction in relation to organic overloads events. Usually, to avoid overload situations, on farms reactors are not fed at maximum load capacity, resulting in non optimized biogas production. The objective of the experiment was to determine if the gas sensors array feature can be related to the process state and if an indirect state variable, giving early warning of process faults, can be derived from the e-nose response. The results demonstrated that focusing on gas phase of anaerobic reactors with a simple device composed of an array of non-specific gas sensors helped in the warning of disorders of the anaerobic digestion process. Mahalanobis distance from a cautious feeding group (group of observations indicating a good process) can be used as an indirect variable to evaluate the intensity of the state disorder. Euclidean distance has been also calculated but it was less informative than the Mahalanobis distance. [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 ▲]

Expertise of the Research Unit"Environmental Monitoring"

Conference (2010, November 04)