New review of odour emissions modelling with model intercomparison
Dispersion modelling plays an important role in the assessment of potential odour annoyance for planned activities and the investigation of complaints related to existing facilities. However, compared to general air pollution modelling there are particular challenges associated with modelling odour dispersion and exposure due to the importance of odour variations over short timescales to the perceived nuisance.
CERC's consultancy team, with Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Environment (ELLE) has carried out a Review of Approaches to Dispersion Modelling of Odour Emissions and Intercomparison of Models and Odour Nuisance Assessment Criteria. This review covers the technical approaches used for a variety of dispersion modelling methodologies applied to the assessment of odour nuisance, and summarises a wide range of odour assessment methods and criteria from different countries.
CERC's ADMS was used alongside AERMOD and AUSTAL2000 in a model intercomparison with four measurement datasets including: field odour inspections; field and wind tunnel tracer experiments; and continuous odour monitoring. Different odour criteria were compared, with a particular focus on the 98th percentile of hourly average concentrations and approaches involving concentration fluctuations and odour hours. Further discussion considers the effects of dose-response, suitable values of peak-to-mean concentration ratios, statistical methods and fluctuation models for predicting short-term odour impacts.
The work was funded by the UK Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC) and the report is freely available here. CERC have previously led or contributed to ADMLC studies of near-field dispersion, non-point source dispersion, dispersion model sensitivity to source term parameters and urban dispersion. The reports for these studies and those by other authors on topics including dense gas dispersion and the ingress of external contaminants into buildings remain freely available.
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