Odour Nuisance from Animal Waste Utilization Plant

Arising odours pose a serious problem stemming from the operation of majority of industrial plants. Their negative influence on environment depends on the localization of the plant, composition of emitted odours, their concentration, gas temperature and also size and frequency of emission. Finding the solution to the problem of disagreeable odours is a very difficult task because of the lack of the formal restrictions regarding the emission of odorous substances and the unambiguous criteria of the determination of their nuisance. Animal waste utilization plants are the source of many volatile, odour-producing compounds. In the utilization process a dead animal matter is subject to thermal processing and dewatering which allows for obtaining commercial product known as meat and bone meal. Odorous compounds are formed both as a result of releasing from the supplied material and during its processing. Identification of odorous compounds present in effluent gases emitted from a plant is the first stage of the selection of the proper deodorization method. In this paper the chemical composition of particular odour forming compounds from Animal Waste Utilization Plant JURLUC near Lubartow was identified. The samples were taken with the use of 5 liter Tedlar bags. The extraction of the samples was made by the SPME method using SUPELCO fibers coated with 100 mu m layer of PDMS. Sorption of the analytes lasted 10 min at room temperature. The analysis itself was carried out by means of Trace Ultra gas chromatograph coupled to Polaris Q mass spectrometer. Desorption took place in the injection port of the chromatograph at 250 degrees C and lasted for 2 min. During the analysis of the air from the plant 18 odour-producing compounds were identified which belong to the following chemical groups: aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon derivatives, phenols, aldehydes and finally nitrogen and sulphur organic compounds. Part of the identified compounds exhibits toxic properties (e.g. trichloroethane, tetrachloroethane, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, xylenes, phenol) or mutagenic properties (e.g. 4-nonylphenol).