Whether we’re talking about chemical storage tanks, lagoons of slurry or food manufacturing, we design every odour control system to achieve a measured removal rate in ouE/m3. Additionally, every odour control system has a flow rate measured in m3/hr, which lets us calculate the system’s treatment capacity.
This article will explore these odour control measurements so you can estimate the odour unit capacity and removal rates of your systems.
Odour control unit capacity
Odour control systems process a maximum airflow volume measured in m3/hr (cubic meters per hour). We estimate m3/hr requirements based on the operational capacity of the plant/site.
Another unit of measurement is ouE/m3 (One European Odour Unit per hour), which is the number of odorants evaporated into one cubic metre of gas. ouE/m3 sets the target for the odour removal efficiency, defining outlet concentration.
Understanding m3/hr
Simply, m3/hr is how many cubic metres of air the odour control unit will process in an hour. A higher m3/hr means it has a higher capacity.
However, a higher capacity is not always desirable, especially in smaller systems, because a higher capacity means a more extensive, more complex system, which increases cost. Thus, finding a balance between capacity and size is crucial.
A standard odour control unit has a capacity of 50 m3/hr to 1,000 m3/hr, which sounds like a lot. Still, it is nothing relatively speaking – OSIL’s CCU (Containerised Carbon Unit) treats 6,000 m3/hr to 45,000m3 /hr with a stackable design.
The ability of an odour control system to treat airflow volumes depends on four key factors:
• System size
• Adsorbent selection
• Adsorptive capacity
• Process conditions – temperature, chemical constituents, moisture
There is more to satisfying a required m3/hr than pumping lots of air through an extensive system; the odour control system needs to treat the air effectively and achieve a desired ouE/m3 (odour concentration).
Understanding ouE/m3
Simply, ouE/M3 is how we measure odour control unit capacity. It is an objective measure of odour concentration (the amount of odour).
All odour control systems take contaminated air gas and treat it mechanically, chemically, or biologically. ouE/M3 can be measured before and after treatment to determine the efficiency of odour removal.
OSIL and most other odour control experts use ouE/m3 because it is the European standardised method of conducting olfactometry. It accurately tells us the concentration of odours, so we can measure removal rates and efficacy.
In odour monitoring and olfactometry, ouE/m3 measurements are usually described with the following notation:
C98, 1-hour = x ouE/m3 w
• x: Limit concentration in ouE
•1-hour: the average time the concentration is calculated
• 98: the percentile that is used to derive concentration value
This notation is used in odour monitoring to define odour concentrations, allowing us to measure tiny concentrations. This is helpful when designing mitigation measures and fine-tuning the performance of odour control systems.
Find out more
Want to find out more about odour control solutions? Contact us today and speak with one of our experts. Just call +44 (0)1543 506855.
