The new regulation on Air Quality of Germany came into force in December

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German Air Quality regulation odour   Last December, a new legislation in air quality came into force in Germany. This is, to our knowledge, the first general limit of odour in ambient air in any country of Europe as it applies to any activity that is potential odour pollutant and to all sectors.

   That is, since the first of December 2021, Germany has a regulatory limit of 1 odour hour in ambient air that cannot be exceeded more than 876 hours a year in residential areas. Also, for industrial and rural areas, the limit of 1 odour hour cannot be exceeded more than 1314 hours every year.

   Mind that there is a distinct difference between odour hour and odour concentration, as the first one is based on a recognition threshold, whilst the latest is based on a detection threshold.

   More info on this guideline here or here in PDF from the official journal (not free).

   This legislation has so many provisions related to odour management in this regulation, that it is very difficult to comment them all. Maybe, one of the most important bits of this legislation is table 22 of the appendix 7.

   This is an index of this appendix 7 of the new regulation.

1. General
2. Requirements for the limitation and discharge of odour emissions.
2.1 Chimney height
2.2 Bagatelle odorant flow
3. Assessment criteria
3.1 Ambient air values
3.2 Application of the ambient air values
3.3 Significance of the ambient air contributions
4. Determination of the characteristic values of odour in ambient air
4.1 General
4.2 Determination in the approval procedure
4.3 Determination in the monitoring procedure
4.4 Parameters for the initial load
4.4.1 General
4.4.2 Assessment area
4.4.3 Assessment area
4.4.4 Measuring height
4.4.5 Measuring period
4.4.6 Measuring points
4.4.7 Measurement method and frequency
4.5 Parameters for the additional load and the total additional load
4.6 Evaluation
5. Assessment in individual cases

 

 

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Carlos Nietzsche Diaz Jimenez's Avatar

Carlos Nietzsche Diaz Jimenez

Carlos is the editor-chief of olores.org and has been in the odour world since 2001. Since then, Carlos has attended over 90 conferences in odour management, both national and international and authored a few papers on the subject. He has also organized a few international meetings and courses. Carlos owns a small company named Ambiente et Odora (AEO). He spends his free time with his wife and his twins, Laura and Daniel, and of course, writing on olores.org.