Odour assessment
Odour assessment is a key factor in the approval and planning of many industrial and agricultural facilities. How an odour is perceived has a significant influence and depends on different characteristics. For instance, odour concentration, intensity, frequency, and hedonic tone have great influence on the degree of annoyance an odour can cause.
With our odour assessment services, Olfasense is a leading specialist odour consultancy focusing on environmental odour assessment. In the field of odour assessment, different scientific techniques have been proven to be effective in order to assess the existing odour source as well as to measure and analyse odour levels. Olfasense uses, for instance, dynamic olfactometry in accordance with the European standard EN13725.
High quality with Olfasense in odour assessment
Olfasense delivers high quality odour measurement, assessment and management services to make sure your odour emissions are under control. We regularly work according to the European standard EN13725, which is primarily used for odour measurements in the environmental sector. We use odour panels consisting of multiple odour panellists to evaluate and assess each odour sample independently.
As a specialist odour consultancy, Olfasense offers a full range of services to identify and evaluate odour emissions and advise on the most appropriate treatment techniques. We are familiar with all methods for the assessment of odour emissions and have experience with a variety of environmental odour issues across different industries.
What our customers say about our odour assessment service
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How odour assessment services can be helpful for you
Odour assessment is a key factor in planning of industrial and agricultural facilities and obtaining approval for e.g. building permits or environmental permitting.
3-step: Olfasense odour assessments
1. Firstly, analysing the existing odour source and source odour emissions. Therefore, we analyse sources of emissions at various point sources or area sources of your plant.
2. Secondly, evaluating the source pathway and the odour impact.
3. Finally, provide you with a comprehensive odour report and provide details for future odour management plans.
This report will help you to…
… sustainably control emissions,
… optimally plan odour reduction,
… eliminate environmental nuisance odours,
… minimise the risks of odour impact,
… avoid social, regulatory and legal conflicts,
… and for environmental permitting.
In addition to these odour assessment services, we also offer local panel training. Our training focusses primarily on working with olfactometers. However, we also offer odour intensity training using sniffing sticks.
Odour evaluation requires a homogeneous and representative panel. Therefore, Olfasense has developed an odour intensity test using sniffing sticks. The idea behind these sniff tests is to have trained panellists detect different odour concentrations and the corresponding intensity levels, which will be checked in a performance test. Another application of our sniffing sticks is the olfactory characterization of, for instance, environmental odours. The sticks will enable, each panellist to describe what an odour smells like, which can increase the quality of e.g. sniff testing in field inspection projects. Click the following link for more information regarding our sniffing sticks.
History of odour assessment at Olfasense
Today, Olfasense is a leading specialist odour consultancy and the world’s leading supplier of odour measurement equipment. Yet, a few decades ago, not many people thought about odour in the way we think about it today. Instead of odour the discussion mainly focused on air quality and all it entailed.
In the beginning, there was no standardised way to quantify odours. Around the time when people who moved from cities to the countryside started to complain about the unpleasant smell, one of our German company co-founders, Dr. Heinrich Mannebeck, worked at the university in Kiel, Germany. He was researching odours and focussing on one main question – how to quantify odours in a standardised way. Today, he is known to be the German pioneer of olfactometry, and our company became both: leading manufacturer and a leading specialist odour consultancy.
From risk assessment to analysing emissions data and odour investigation, the field of odour assessment is multifaceted nowadays. Our service portfolio today covers the full range of sensory and molecular odour analysis services to
- identify and analyse odour sources
- assess odour risk at potential sensitive receptors, like local communities
- optimise the production and labour process at your facility to minimise odour release
with practical knowledge across a broad range of odour relevant sectors.
However, odour measurement is not only important in the environmental sector, but also for products and materials. In 2001, OLFAtec was founded as a German subsidiary to focus mainly on sensory products and material testing. Furthermore, it became the first company in the world to be accredited for the Interlaboratory Comparison (ILC) EN 13725 testing scheme.
Yet, Olfasense still offers all four key pillars: manufacturing, environmental odour measurements, Interlaboratory Comparisons (ILC) as well as product and material testing. In fact, we are an approved laboratory for odour measurements of various automotive manufacturers, including Nissan, Volkswagen and BMW. We also offer odour testing for consumer goods, e.g. odour-reducing bin bags, carpets and vacuum cleaners.
In 2018, Olfasense opened a new laboratory for molecular odour evaluation, containing the latest in cutting-edge technologies for GC-MS and GC-sniffing services . In sum, many things have changed for our company over the years, always with a focus on strengthening the position of Olfasense as the global supplier of choice for industry-leading odour testing services and our continuously improving technology.
Challenges of the future include instrumental odour monitoring systems (IOMS) and how they can be used in the field of local air quality monitoring.
Olfasense technology and standards in the field of odour assessment
As a leading manufacturer of odour measurement technology, we are experts in odour assessment, odour monitoring, odour management and measuring odour emissions, as well as determining an odour source.
Learn more about our odour assessment technology and download our product catalogue
As for our standards – Olfasense regularly uses dynamic olfactometry in accordance with the EN13725 standard. The EN13725 standard is mainly used for odour measurements in the environmental sector to determine odours from an odour source.
The application of this olfactometry measurement method includes high-quality standard procedures as well as control measures to guarantee the best possible results.
These can be used to improve air quality, reduce odour emission or to determine a fitting filter technology, to name a few.
Standards like the EN13725 are launched through working groups. Click the following link to discover more about our accredited areas and our work in relevant odour working and standardisation groups.
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