From: Odor Control, Part 2 The Perceptions of Odor
Is It Ours?
As Stockbridge and Widell point out, operators often are faced with complaints of odors that their facilities are not generating. What's more, it's not easy to refute those complaints. The complainer just knows that it stinks and he knows that landfills and composting operations produce stinks. If you tell him–and perhaps the odor committee–the malodor is coming from a nearby bakery, you are unlikely to be believed.
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You might not be able to prove that the culprit is the bakery, but Gaubert says you can prove it's not your facility that is causing that particular odor. To do this, you must gather samples of the malodor and send them to a lab that will analyze its chemical makeup for aromatics, halogen compounds, hydrocarbons, oxygen compounds, sulfur compounds, ammonia, and other compounds to determine the exact nature of the odor. If there is no matching compound generated at your facility, you're in the clear. As an example, if the malodor analysis didn't reveal any ammonia, it couldn't have come from your composting operation, which only generates ammonia.
If the analysis pinpoints benzene, the malodor is probably coming from the bakery. However, Gaubert suggests, don't go there. You've proved it isn't yours, and that's enough.
May-June 2002
From: Odor Control, Part 2 The Perceptions of Odor
Is It Ours?
As Stockbridge and Widell point out, operators often are faced with complaints of odors that their facilities are not generating. What's more, it's not easy to refute those complaints. The complainer just knows that it stinks and he knows that landfills and composting operations produce stinks. If you tell him–and perhaps the odor committee–the malodor is coming from a nearby bakery, you are unlikely to be believed.You might not be able to prove that the culprit is the bakery, but Gaubert says you can prove it's not your facility that is causing that particular odor. To do this, you must gather samples of the malodor and send them to a lab that will analyze its chemical makeup for aromatics, halogen compounds, hydrocarbons, oxygen compounds, sulfur compounds, ammonia, and other compounds to determine the exact nature of the odor. If there is no matching compound generated at your facility, you're in the clear. As an example, if the malodor analysis didn't reveal any ammonia, it couldn't have come from your composting operation, which only generates ammonia.
If the analysis pinpoints benzene, the malodor is probably coming from the bakery. However, Gaubert suggests, don't go there. You've proved it isn't yours, and that's enough.