The UNI EN 16841-1 standard: "Ambient air - Determination of the odor in ambient air through field survey - Part 1: Grid method", based on the German VDI standard 3940 part 1, and implemented in Italy in 2017, regulates the Odor Field Inspection, a method of analysis of the odorogenic impact in a given territory, through the evaluation by selected sniffers.
In particular, the grid method, described in part 1 of the aforementioned standard, consists in the representation of sensitive receptors, with a regular mesh of equidistant points scattered in the survey area, among which the measurement paths are identified.
Asufficiently large group of sniffers, following an adequate training, gives anindication of the possible presence of odor at each point, indicating its typeand intensity. The data collected during the survey, which has a duration of 6- 12 months in such a way that they are sufficiently representative of themeteorological conditions of the area, are then processed statistically.
A typical Odor Field Inspection campaign consists of the following steps:
- Inspection with definition of the survey points in the territory surrounding the plant and of the measurement routes;
- Selection of examiners with olfactometric chamber test;
- Training of examiners who will perform field tests;
- Monitoring;
- Elaboration and presentation of results.
LOD has recently developed Geonose, a management software that, consisting of a portal and an application for smartphones and tablets that can be used directly by the examiners in the field, allows to implement the data related to the Field Inspection, providing a measure of the geolocalized smell.
Geonose is the first SAAS (Software As A Service) service dedicated to detecting odors in the environment.
