Issues with ambient odours could be annoying and exhausting for the people involved in this context. For the plant responsible of the odour emission, for the people that is exposed to environmental odours and for the authorities responsible of mantaining an adequate vital and equilibrated ambient air at work. 

   Odour perception is personal, subjective and volatile. Among the many important factors involved in the odour perception, memory plays a key role. Many times, citizens will complaint that their annoyance is not being taken seriously and there is a lack of understanding, and sometimes knowledge, of what happened in the past. Therefore, a successful process of odour management requires both a wide set of relevant information about the odour and an effective comunication strategy among the parties involved.  

Marc Andresen

Olfasense GmbH - Fraunhoferstraße 13 - 24118 Kiel, Germany

   One week left for the EN 16841 to be implemented at national level by publication of an identical national standard or by endorsement. Just seven days to start working with this new European Standard that describes two methods for direct assessment of odours in ambient air: The grid method and the plume method.

    The dynamic olfactometry method described in EN 13725 is generally only suitable for measurement of odour emissions at the source, as the practical lower detection limit is typically ≥10 ou_E/m³ (according to the Final draft of the EN 16841). Dynamic Olfactometry should not be applied directly to determine odour exposure in the field, although some authors claim that this is possible.