Ra. Fenner et Rm. Stuetz, The application of electronic nose technology to environmental monitoring of water and wastewater treatment activities, WAT ENV RES, 71(3), 1999, pp. 282-289
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Environment/Ecology,"Environmental Engineering & Energy
An electronic nose instrument was evaluated for its ability to monitor liqu
id wastewater samples, wastewater odor, and tainting compounds in water sup
plies. Current methods for measuring odors are based on human sensory panel
s (olfactometry) and used to determine 50% detection thresholds. Such metho
ds are time consuming, labor intensive, and subject to large variation betw
een analyses. An electronic nose, consisting of a nonspecific sensor array,
could offer a more objective means of measuring odors emanating from water
and wastewater. Monitoring of quiescent wastewater liquors from three trea
tment works over an 8-month period showed that an electronic nose could dis
tinguish between wastewater samples of different types and origins. Thresho
ld odor numbers obtained from olfactometry analysis were correlated with el
ectronic nose output for wastewater odors from 10 treatment works. Results
suggested that no universal relationship exists between these parameters; h
owever, a strong linear relationship can be produced for odor samples that
are site or source specific. The electronic nose was also tested for its ab
ility to screen raw and treated water supplies for tainting compounds. This
aspect of the work demonstrated that low levels of organic pollutants can
be detected by monitoring water samples with the nose.