Biofilter Efficiency In Odor Abatement At Composting Plants

Abstract

In the present work, five composting facilities have been examined for odor abatement efficiency of the gaseous emissions control devices, mainly scrubbers and biofilters. A correlation between olfactory nuisance and chemical composition was tried, using for the chemical analysis the same samples collected for the olfactometric experiments. The odor units were determined by the dynamic method (olfactometer). For the chemical analysis, the volatile organic compounds were first enriched by gas-solid adsorption and analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results evidenced the role of limonene as masking agent and the discontinuous performance of the biofilters. The formation of sesquiterpenes as by-products of limonene biodegradation was highlighted.