Assessment of Odour Impact Range of Selected Waste Management Plant with the Use of Mathematical Tools (Model Tools)

One of the many factors that can significantly affect the quality of human life in cities is odour pollution. The progressing industrialization mean that objects that can contribute to odour emission can be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the residential areas. The close proximity of such objects may contribute to odour nuisance. The scope of this work was to determine the extent of the odour impact associated with the functioning of the technological composting process for biodegradable waste at the Utilization Plant. In the study, biofilter and compost ripening area were considered as main odour emissions sources. The odour dispersion modelling from selected odour sources was performed with the use of Operat Fb software, the calculation scheme of which is consisted in the guidelines from the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment of 26 January 2010. The odour dispersion modelling was performed for two different scenarios. The first, representing the current state of the considered waste utilization plant and the second one represents the improvement option by applying encapsulation of the ripping area and the use of a biofilter with 98% efficiency. The calculations carried out showed a reduction of the odour concentration value in the second variant compared to the first variant. The odour emission from the waste utilization plant amounted to 2,027,100 ou_E/s in the first scenario while in the second variant – 52,569 ou_E/s. The highest obtained values of maximum annual average concentrations were 9,247 ou_E/m³ for the first scenario and 874 ou_E/m³ for the second scenario, respectively. The highest average concentration reacged 1,405 ou_E/m³ for the first scenario and 181 ou_E/m³ for the second scenario. The highest exceedance frequencies of are 100% for the first scenario and 99.7 for the second scenario. The reduction ratio for emission is 0.97%, for the maximum odour concentrations is 0.91% , the average annual odour concentrations is 0.87% and the frequency of exceeding the maximum odour concentrations is 0.003%. The application of the mathematical model allowed for the assessment of the reduction of the odour impact of the examined object and the validity of the applied method of reducing odour emissions.