2020 is here and, once again, Working Group 2 of the CEN Technical Committee 264 got to meet in Delft (The Netherlands) the 21st and 22nd of January to discuss the coming revision of the EN 13725. The final draft of the revision process of the Standard EN 13725 on Dynamic Olfactometry was sent to enquiry and many comments have been received from different countries. A document of over 100 pages was produced with all the comments received. The work of the group was at this stage to answer to each one of the comments.

 Secretary and convenor of the group collated a table with every comment and modified and replied to many of the suggestions received. Some comments were left to discussion within the group of 16 experts that got to meet at NEN facilities in Delft.

 Most of the first day dealt with terms and definitions. This important part addresses the new concepts and definitions introduced in the standard for olfactometry, on sampling and for metrology and statistics. Well over 100 definitions have been introduced in the new text, which is about the same amount of definitions included in the current standard, however, most of the definitions have been reviewed and updated.

   The chapters revised in this 2-days meeting dealt with the principle of method and the equipment to be used during sampling and analysis, that is: olfactometer, samplers, gases and the characteristics of the room where the measurement is going to be made.

 In the chapter dealing with the principle of method, some modifications have been made to the parts dealing with odorant gas sampling and odour analysis, determination of odour concentration and the important chapter on the procedure for establishing a robust estimated value of the EROM for a secondary odorant reference material. Additionally, some modifications have been introduced in the chapter on considerations for the interpretation of the odour concentration concept for air quality management.

  In the chapter dealing with the equipment, some minor modifications have been introduced in the part dealing with sampling equipment, bags and the gases to be used. Some small additions have also been made to the part on the odorant reference material for the EROM and the reference material for calibration of the olfactometer.

    A proposal was made from some experts from a couple of European countries to change some requirements stated in the document for the construction of an olfactometer. One of the requirements dealt with the use of at least 4 odorants to check that the recovery is reduced to less than a certain percentage based on the findings of a recent paper. With this requirement, at this stage there is only one company in the world that can deliver such an olfactometer according to the new standard.

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