Characterisation of wastewater using an electronic nose

An electronic nose consisting of twelve polypyrrole conducting polymer sens ors was evaluated for its ability to monitor quiescent sewage liquors at th ree wastewater treatment works. Samples collected from the works inlet. the settlement rank and the final effluent outlet over an 8-month period, show ed that a non-specific sensor array can distinguish between sewage samples of different type and from different treatment works. The correlation of th e electronic nose responses with the 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) using canonical correlation (a statistical reduction technique), showed th at no generalised relationship can be found between these parameters for ra w sewage, settled sewage and final effluent samples from three treatment wo rks. However. when samples From a single works are compared separately, str ong correlations can be produced between the electronic nose responses and BOD5 for time intervals of approximately 4 weeks. These relationships show that it is possible to fit single lines between the response patterns of an electronic nose and BOD5 for sewage samples at a single treatment works. T he results suggest that it may bt:feasible to use an electronic nose to mon itor and/or control the biochemical activities of a wastewater treatment pr ocess. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.