Great Billing, Odour control mapMott
MacDonald (MM) has a broad experience of odour related studies. For
numerous clients, MM has undertaken odour assessment and abatement
surveys, odour measurement surveys, odour emission and dispersion
studies and provided professional contractual advice and expert
witness in planning disputes with regard to odour
control.
For example, over recent months MM has prepared planning documents
with regard to odour control for the proposed upgraded sludge
treatment centres at King’s Lynn, Norwich and Northampton. This
work involved carrying out sniff tests to identify the main odour
sources, the measurement and prediction of odour emissions and the
modelling of atmospheric odour dispersion. Other recent work has
included an odour abatement study involving emission and dispersion
modelling for a proposed sewage treatment works in a sensitive
holiday area in Portugal and odour assessment and abatement studies
for five existing Scottish sewage treatment works where odour
nuisance has become an issue.
With regard to predicting odour emissions from treatment stages, MM
uses the WRc method as its basis. This method relates the odour
emission to the odour potential of the emitting substance and the
nature, such as the mixing intensity, of the emitting surface. The
key to this method is to use the appropriate value of the odour
potential. From performing numerous studies at existing sewage (and
sludge) treatment works involving the comparison of predicted
atmospheric odour concentrations against perceived concentrations,
MM has built-up a data base of odour potential for different
sludges taking into consideration the type of processing the sludge
receives.
MM currently uses ISC-AERMOD View as marketed by Lakes
Environmental for atmospheric odour dispersion modelling. This
software incorporates into one interface the three popular
regulatory models recommended by the US EPA namely ISCST3,
ISC-PRIME and AERMOD and is widely used in the UK and other
countries.
The UK's first completely enclosed sewage treatment
works at Newcastle, Northern Ireland
