The future European standard to determine odour in ambient air by using field inspection

摘要

This paper presents the methodologies to determine odour in ambient air by field inspection thatwill be a new European standard. The objective is to characterize the odour in a defined area.Without making a link with potential annoyance due to the presence of odours, the describedmethods propose the way to characterize an exposed environment. Two approaches are defined inthe new standard: the grid method and the plume method. The grid method can be used determinethe exposure to ambient odours in a defined area of study, using direct observation of recognizableodours in the field by human panel members. This method must be applied over a sufficiently longperiod of time (6 or 12 months) to be representative for the meteorological conditions of thatlocation. The result is the distribution of the frequency of exposure to odours within theassessment area. The plume method can be used to determine the extent of detectable andrecognizable odours from a specific source using direct observation in the field by human panelmembers under specific meteorological conditions.