Why Abate VOC Vapour Odour?
Poor odour is any smell offensive to the human nose. Most odour sources are of anthropogenic origin. The most common sources are landfill operations, food-processing plants, chemical, petro and petrochemical industries.
Offensive odours, which emanate from industrial premises, are important environmental pollution issues, because they can affect public amenity and the community’s quality of life.
There are many thousands of odours arising from multiple sources, which can be variously described, by humans with a sense of smell. Not everyone subjected to a particular odour will however describe it in the same manner. Humans react in different ways to odours, for example, many would probably describe odour from a brewery or perfumery as pleasant, and others would find them unpleasant, especially after being subjected to them over time.
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These odorous emissions are complex and variable mixtures of volatile organic compounds (fatty acids, aromatic compounds, aliphatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons, terpenes, aldehydes and ketones) and some inorganic substances, such as hydrogen sulphide and ammonia.
Hydrogen sulphide, H2S, can be smelled in a wide radius from manholes, pumping stations, crude oil and heavy fuel loading facilities, due to a very low odour threshold level, in even small concentrations. This results in complaints from people living in an area close to the source of the odour and often leads to negative publicity, media attention and a bad reputation.
In addition, H2S is a highly toxic gas. It can poison several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. Exposure to lower concentrations can result in eye irritation, shortness of breath and fluid in the lungs. Long-term, low-level exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness. Higher concentrations of H2S even tend to be lethal.
Efforts to abate odour levels are necessary in order to maintain the quality of the environment.