Comparison of the Measurement Techniques Employed for Evaluation of Ambient Air Odour Quality Influenced by Operation of Industrial Sewage Treatment Plant

Abstract

The paper presents the results of investigation on ambient air quality evaluation with respect to concentration of odorants in a vicinity of a sewage treatment plant of the LOTOS Group S.A. petroleum plant. The investigation was performed during winter season using a prototype of electronic nose and the Nasal Ranger field olfactometers. The prototype was equipped with a set of six semiconductor sensors by FIGARO Co. and one PID-type sensor. The field olfactometers were used to determine mean concentration of odorants, whichamounted from 2.2 to 17.8 ou/m³ depending on the place of measurement. In case of the investigations withthe electronic nose prototype a classification of the ambient air samples with respect to the place of sampling was performed utilizing linear discriminant function supported with a cross-validation method. Correct classification of the ambient air samples was at the level of 83.3%. Moreover, it was shown that discrimination of the ambient air samples differing in concentration of odorants and place of origin was possible with the electronic nose measurements.