Odour testing and advice

In the written living environment studies (SLO) in 2018, performed by the Environment Department, 15 % of Belgians in Flanders said they experienced unpleasant odours. In this, the categories 'industry', 'agriculture' and 'water treatment' together have around the same share as the respective categories 'traffic' and 'neighbours' (specifically this mainly concerns emissions from smoke from fireplaces).

This indicates that odour emissions from industrial and agricultural businesses could certainly be improved. Managing odour emissions obviously prevents complaints from the local community and can have a positive effect when businesses wish to apply for or renew permits.

Witteveen+Bos has all the expertise in house, including an odour lab, to produce a detailed analysis of clients' odour issues and advise them on odour reduction. Let us explain the process:

• We have experience in sampling different types of sources, including conducted emissions, biobeds, waste water tanks, ...
• We perform sniffer team measurements, based on the code of good practice.
• During sampling, we always measure the other physical parameters, such as the flow rate, temperature, air humidity, ...
• With the olfactometry analysis, we determine the odour concentration of the samples in our own odour lab, in accordance with the European standard (NEN-EN 13725).
• After determining the odour concentration in the odour lab or calculating the odour emissions based on key figures, we have various models to reveal the odour dispersion. Depending on the impact on the local community, we can study which mitigating measures (end of pipe, process, ...) could reduce the problem.