A nose for nuisance odours

The science of smell is set to enhance strategies to minimise odour pollution associated with food processing, thanks to the development of a pioneering industrial scale ‘electronic nose’.

Available in the UK for the first time, the technology can be used to help improve the control of odours associated with food production and on-site waste handling. By sensing odours and raising an alert before they cause human discomfort, the equipment can trigger activity to reduce nuisance odours at an early stage.

Distributed by air quality and emissions monitoring firm Enviro Technology, the RQ Box electronic nose was developed by French company Alpha MOS – a firm specialising in human sense digitisation systems. It mimics human olfaction to detect levels of odour and pollutant gases in the air.

The RQ Box makes it possible to create an objective profile of odour levels, enabling better policing and management of odour pollution, for authorities and food processors alike.

“Fish processing facilities are particularly renowned for producing odours during cooking and drying. Ongoing analysis of this odour can form a vital part of strategies to combat pollution,” explains Duncan Mounsor, sales and marketing director at Enviro Technology. “And the RQ Box itself can stimulate tactical responses, such as activation of warning alarms and air treatment facilities. It can also prompt timely remedial action if equipment such as afterburners or chlorinator scrubbers is not operating effectively.

“For much of the food industry, odours are a normal by-product of everyday activity. But there is a world of difference between an ‘acceptable’ level of odour and what is clearly is an unacceptable nuisance.”