Odor Fingerprinting/Monitoring within a Processing Industry Environment by Means of Distributed Biosensors - The Case of Oil Refineries

摘要

The escalating public concern about odor pollution prompts the efforts to establish control programmes in many countries. In practice, controlling odorants is a very complex problem: sources and emissions have to be identified, analytical methods have to be evaluated, risks have to be assessed, critical emissions have to be controlled, and economical aspects have to be integrated. This-paper addresses odor monitoring through a holistic approach, involving odor fingerprinting, source identification and remedial activities to reduce emissions in facility design and operation, through a biosensor network and an effective communications between the offending facility and those groups that may be negatively impacted by odors. Biomonitoring is realized through a suitable developed computer-aided selection program, that, considering the odorous mixture and its source, is almost tailor-made for the specific needs at hand in order to minimize uncertainty and monitoring costs and increase reliability of odor control and abatement. The response of a range or array of sensors can be monitored through separate temporal and/or spatial Geographical Information System (GIS) layers and subsequently correlated by means of a relational database, so that odor levels can be recorded either systematically or as function of time and/or space. Significantly, a novel system in the form of a rational framework at the conceptual design level has been developed, that actually contributes towards achieving a cost-effective long-term monitoring program, with the flexibility to counter on-course any (anticipated or not) variations/modifications of the surveillance environment. The advantages of this novel and pioneering approach will further offer a dynamic system utilized in (a) odor impact studies and risk assessment (positive/analytic approach), (b) decision-making in the short-run (normative/tactic approach), and (c) policymaking in the long-run (normative/strategic approach).