Can Electronic Noses be Used to Control Odour Abatement Measures in Sewers? – Approach by Testing 4 Multigas-sensor Systems under Realistic Conditions

Abstract

Four Multigas-sensor systems (so called electronic noses or e-noses) with different sensors and configurations were tested over a period of 6 months at a sewer research plant of the Berliner Wasserbetriebe. They were exposed to different realistic process conditions. The objective was to analyse the applicability of electronic noses for the control of odour abatement measures in sewer systems. In order to describe the relation of the sensor signals to the odour, olfactometric and hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) measurements were conducted. In the context of the data-mining process, the results were statistically evaluated. The best correlation coefficient for Linear Regression was 0.56 (e-nose D) whereas the results of Discriminant Analysis and Logistic Regression revealed that three of four e-noses are able to differentiate with regard to a level of 500 ou/m³. Results on response time and repeatability showed a general practicability of e-noses for dosage control. The performance of the e-noses seems to depend on the system configuration (gas preparation, type of sensors).