Proceedings

There were concerns at a sewage sludge treatment centre that fugitive odour emissions from raw sludge treatment facilities, including covered and ventilated raw Sludge Reception Tanks (Reception Tanks) and Picket Fence Thickeners (PFTs), could be significant sources of odour emissions that might raise odour concentrations beyond a works boundary.

Investigations were carried out into the performance of a Reception Tank and a PFT with respect to fugitive odour emissions. A SF6 decay test, developed by WRc, was used to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the cover on each tank. Models were then set up for each covered tank to predict the fugitive odour emission rate for different air extraction rates, using Odour Assessor software.

This paper will provide the detailed results and conclusions for the enclosure effectiveness tests for each covered tank. It will also show how the models for each tank were used to optimise the air extraction rate to prevent fugitive odour emissions.

KEY WORDS
Emissions, Fugitive, Modelling, Odour, Prevention, Sludge, Tanks,