Adsorption of malodorous air in the food industry. I. Fat refinery waste gas at inorganic surfaces

Abstract

A new method for measuring the malodorous air adsorption at selected inorganic adsorbents is presented. It is aimed to be transferable to other odour problems and different adsorbents. The odour concentration measured by olfactometry is correlated to the signal of a gas sensor array. After calibrating the gas sensor array, the concentrations of malodorous air were measured. The method is a helpful tool for the selection of suitable adsorbents for particular odour problems.

Acknowledgements: We thank the working group of Rainer Stegmann, notably Mirko Schlegelmilch at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg for collecting the odour samples and determining the odour concentration by olfactometry; the companies IKO Minerals, Noske-Kaeser and SASOL for providing the adsorbents; Airsense Analytics for the electronic nose; and most importantly, the Federal Ministry of Research and Education for the financial support (0330236, TP 4) enabling these investigations within an integrated project of 18 partners.