Olfactometry studies UNE-EN 13725

Odor pollution has become one of the most relevant environmental problems in cities and urban environments. In this sense, it is necessary to determine a methodology that allows to quantify the environmental impact produced and, likewise, provide criteria to develop the corrective measures.

Odor environmental impact studies

There are mainly two alternatives of action to carry out this type of study. The first approach, and the one most used, are studies based on emission measurements using the methodology described in the UNE-EN 13725 standard (Determination of odor concentration by dynamic olfactometry) and secondly, studies based on immission measurements.

Advantages of studies based on emission measurements

This type of studies mainly provides the following advantages:

  • Determine which sources are the real cause of most of the odors produced in an installation. In this way, the parts of the installation that are not working properly can be discovered and act on the process to reduce and limit emissions. On the other hand, when planning investments to eliminate odors, it will be known in which sources must be act on and which ones are less relevant and therefore have a lower priority.
  • Knowing the magnitude of the emissions produced by one or more sources will make possible to choose and properly size the odor treatment system to be applied in each situation.
  • It is possible to measure, in an objective way, the efficiency of the different odor elimination systems existing in the installation.
  • With the help of mathematical dispersion models, it is possible to foresee what the future immission scenarios will be when a certain measure is implemented for the elimination of odors. In this way, it will be possible to know how far the emission level of each source must be lowered to achieve the set objective.

From SUEZ we make UNE-EN 13725 studies available to our clients.