Fined for odour

A BROOKLYN company has been fined nearly $6000 for a fire that released an outbreak of offensive smells across Altona North in July.

Australian Tallow Producers Pty Ltd were fined $5841 for failing to meet Environment Protection Authority (EPA) licence conditions that prohibit offensive odours to humans from being discharged beyond the boundaries of their Geelong Rd premises.

A surge in complaints sparked an EPA investigation, which pinpointed the odour to a particular piece of machinery on site, that was shut down until it could be fixed. The company has 28 days to pay the fine, seek a review or have the matter dealt with in court.

Supply odour control equipment

Supply a nine-piece odor control system at the 250,000 m³/d Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), Saudi Arabia.
 Water authority requested that odor control equipment be installed, the company said in a statement on Friday.
Valued at more than $2 million, the system will consist of three different technologies located at five areas throughout the plant.
Once completed by year’s end, this will be one of the largest odor control installations .
The  odor control experience and number of installations in the  is one of the few bidding companies that were able to provide a multitude of odor control solutions, including a combination of biological, chemical, and activated carbon. Siemens will also guarantee the overall system’s efficiency.
Two two-stage bio-trickling filters will remove the bulk of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the aerated grit chambers and bio-phosphorus tanks, followed by a LO/PRO two-stage chemical scrubber to reduce overall odors. A three-stage chemical scrubber will remove 99.9% of H2S and other odors in the sludge thickener and tanks area.
Three additional scrubbers will be installed in the sludge dewatering building to treat ammonia and amines, H2S, and organic sulfur compounds in three separate stages.
 biofiltration unit installed in the return and excess sludge pumping station will remove H2S and various other odorous compounds. A single-stage packed tower chemical scrubber in the aeration tanks rounds out the system, treating a high volume of air and a range of odors and concentrations in a small footprint.

Esperance Port Authority pleads guilty to pollution charges

The Esperance Port Authority (EPA) has been fined $525 000 after pleading guilty to charges of lead pollution and emitting nickel odour.

The contamination, which occurred three years ago, saw Magistrate Greg Benn hand down Western Australia’s largest penalty for polluting.

Between December 2006 and March 2007, thousands of birds were reportedly falling from the sky, prompting a parliamentary inquiry.

This also resulted in temporarily elevated levels of lead in the bloodstream of children in Esperance.

The Director General of the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), Keiran McNamara, said this prosecution was the result of a detailed investigation by the DEC, adding “that since this incident, the department's capacity to regulate industry has been greatly improved by the allocation of significant additional resources in the monitoring and compliance areas.''

In 2008, a five year monitoring program was initiated to track the levels of lead still in the environment.

The EPA faced a maximum fine of $1.3 million; however it was fined less as it pleaded guilty at an early stage and offered an apology to the people of Esperance.

The Esperance Port Authority, now know as Esperance Ports Sea and Land (EPSL) restated its regret for the incident after sentencing.

EPSL’s acting chief executive Neil Pearson stated that the port did not have effective environmental procedures and controls at the time of the incident.

``This penalty is significant and the board will now need to consider the impact it will have on the port.'' Pearson added.

PENRITH PONG FIRM HITS BACK OVER COMPLAINTS

Executives at the firm blamed for the Penrith pong have spoken out amid threats of legal action against them.

The Alba Proteins factory

A no-win no-fee solicitors’ firm has spoken to various residents in the Castletown area about the possibility of litigation against the Alba Proteins animal byproduct processing plant in Wildriggs.

This follows an increase in the number of complaints about the smell this year.

Eden Council received about 400 complaints about the problem between May and September – a figure disputed by the firm.

An Alba spokesman added the company firm was going above and beyond its duty to prevent the foul smell troubling nearby residents.

The spokesman said: “Over the last decade we have invested heavily in new processes and equipment to minimise odours originating from our site and, as a leader in the animal byproduct industry, the site is operating within the parameters required by the licenses and regulations that govern it.

“While we must stress not every issue of odour is attributable to us, which Eden Council has verified, we invite the public to check this with the authority for themselves.

“We categorically dispute the figures quoted and will be challenging these.

“We take all smell complaints extremely seriously and meet regularly with both Eden Council and a residents’ liaison group to keep them informed of our on-goingprogress.”

He added: “A recent example of our efforts – which go far beyond what is required by law – is the upgrading and installation of new bio-filters, these are designed to contain and neutralise odours efficiently and effectively.”

Cardiff-based solicitors Hugh James have been speaking to local people about the possibility of launching legal action.

First published at 11:36, Monday, 19 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Big stink as tannery seeks to operate for further 35 years

Corporation seeks a 35-year consent for the continued operation of a coal-fired boiler, which uses a 26-metre-high chimney in Station Rd, Belfast, and for odour emissions.Residents are battling a Christchurch tannery's bid to renew its consent to discharge contaminants into the air.

The company said at a hearing in Christchurch yesterday that it had made substantial improvements since gaining its last consent. A biofilter now treated gases from processing drums and the business no longer operated as a sheepskin fellmongery.

Four substantiated odour complaints have been made over the past decade, but Environment Canterbury officers found the smell was not offensive beyond the property's boundary.

Lawyer Sarah Day told commissioner Barry Loe and regional councillor Rik Tindall that "substantial capital" had been invested to meet environmental standards.

"It's unfortunate that an industry that has been operating in Belfast for so many years has to battle with such opposition whenever it comes time for renewal of consent to continue with its activities," she said.

In his submission, Belfast School principal Peter Simpson said there had not been enough time for the community to be fully consulted on the effects.

The Northwood Residents Association was strongly opposed.

"We see the continued discharge of foul air into the atmosphere as detrimental to the living conditions and amenity of our residents," its submission said.

The hearing will end today.

odour control is locate the problem then use the appropriate solution

Full Service Odour Control Program to help odour control of wastewater collection and treatment facilities.

 Full Service Odour Control Program treating each case based on assessing and collecting data at the site before suggesting one or more odour control products.

Full Service Odour Control Program uses a range of odour phasing control systems.

The science of Breaking Bad: Down Breaking Bad : Season 2 : Episode 4: “Down”

Jesse reaches the end of his tether.

As Walt’s attempts to regain his family fail to cut the mustard, Jesse loses all and ends up blue. In this post, I’ll be talking about chemical toilets.
You can read more about this episode at AMC, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Amphetamine

Jesse’s address comes out in the meeting with his parents’ lawyer, but (at least according to Google Maps) Margo Road ends in the 2400s. His father also mistakenly identifies him as a “speed” manufacturer – speed is another name foramphetamine, which is similar to the methamphetamine he has been manufacturing but different enough for his to technically deny it without lying.
Chemical toilets
Kicked out of his house, let down by his friends and relieved of all his worldly possessions, things simply cannot get any worse for Jesse. Until he manages to fall into a chemical toilet, that is. The bright blue liquid that everyone remarks upon is probably Anotec blue, a deodorising additive commonly used in portable units. It could have been worse, though – older toilets used chemicals like formaldehyde (H₂CO) and glutaraldehyde (OC(CH₂)₃CO) to disinfect wastes, but modern ones use less-harmful nitrates to speed up the natural breakdown processes and remove faecal odours (the chemical odour is another matter – it’s there to cover up any natural odours that get slip out). One of Anotec’s mottoes is “We stick our nose in your business.”

Skatole

Human (and animal) faeces contain digested and undigested food, and the distinctive smell is due to the by-products of bacterial action in the gut. The principal culprits are indole, skatole (named from the Greek skato-, meaning “dung”) and sulfur-containing compounds such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S; this is also responsible for the smell of rotten eggs). Methane, contrary to popular belief, is odourless.

Sewage plant doesn't pass the smell test Residents of Cattail Creek community hope county health board will help clear the air

The strong smell of human feces that residents of the upscale Villas of Cattail Creek say sporadically seeps out of their new community sewage treatment plant is just the latest indignity after the nearly five years without a working sewage system that preceded it.

"It's just never-ending," said Renee Parcover, one of the 55-and-older residents of what was intended to be an idyllic group of 93 retirement homes next to a country club and golf course in bucolic western Howard County.

"It smelled like a sewer," on Sept. 24, Sue Ann Folks told the county's Board of Health on Tuesday night, during a 4 1/2 -hour hearing on whether the smell is a nuisance worthy of a daily fine. A four-year resident, Folks said she and her husband have not built a deck or patio at their house because of the "really strong odor." The hearing is to continue Wednesday.

The developer, represented by attorney Alexander E. Adams, has simultaneously argued that the odor is minimal and not abnormal, and that the developers, represented by managing partner J. Thomas Scrivener, are trying to eliminate it.

Since the 58-acre site is far beyond the reach of public water and sewer pipes, the developers got a state permit and built a small shared sewage treatment system for the 25 detached homes and 68 townhouses. But that plant never worked, requiring up to five trucks a day to pump sewage out of a tank and haul it away until a new plant was built last fall.

The new facility consists of a small brick building, gray tank and large white pipe, all of which sits behind a bright white plastic fence and a row of pine trees at the end of Player's Way, a street of smartly designed and decorated homes.

All seemed better this year until warm weather hit in June, residents say, when the unpredictable episodes of repulsive odors began seeping from the plant.

Officials: Odor-control measure at plant works

The smell inside Port Huron's sewage treatment plant is suffocating.
A mix of ammonia and rotten eggs, that odor used to be discharged into downtown Port Huron unfiltered, but a scrubbing system installed in 2004 at a cost of $10.2 million eliminated much of the stink and made the situation the best it can be, officials said.
Instead of being released outside the plant, which is on the St. Clair River near the Black River, the foul-smelling air is now piped into an odor control room, where it literally is bleached.
"The point is, the most offense odors are under control," City Engineer Bob Clegg said.
Sometimes, he said, the smell does flare up, but that is because doors are opened for maintenance or cleaning or they are released when trucks haul away the "solids" to area farms.
The smell is fresh on the minds of Port Huron residents now that the City Council has approved spending $660,000 to buy the vacant 3 ½-acre piece of land next to the plant. It is land City Manager Bruce Brown and other city leaders want to sell to a developer for a private residence or hotel.
John Mrozek, the environmental quality technician at the plant, said there is no doubt the scrubbing system works.
"There has been a huge reduction," he said.
The only part of the plant without odor-control mechanisms is the secondary processing area.
But Clegg said that area does not produce a smell that is offensive.
Smells from the secondary plant are similar to a damp basement. Other parts smell more natural, "like a river," Clegg said -- only more condensed.
Clegg said the city can spend about $1 million to put in odor controls there. He said the question is whether City Council wants to put up that money to guard against those smells.
Brown, the city manager, has no intention of doing that as he tries to market the property.
Instead, he plans to introduce to the City Council a plan to eliminate the smells that come from the loading of the solids into trucks.
He said that operation happens outside, and he hopes to make it an indoor operation like the rest of the facility.
Brown said he is unsure at this time what that project will cost.
"I would sure recommend that we do that," Brown aid. "It shouldn't be too big of an expense."
Brown said the odor people most smell stems from the secondary process.
He added: "It is not enough to prevent private development."

Plants improve overall environment at farms

Recent studies at Penn State University have demonstrated that the use of vegetative buffers – single or multiple rows of shrubs and trees – can significantly reduce odours, dust and other factors impacting the immediate environment around poultry farms, according to the Poultry Science Association (PSA).

Dr. Paul Patterson, a professor at Penn State’s Dept. of Poultry Science, has been a leader in the effort to quantify the degree to which different types of vegetative buffers can help address a number of “nuisance” factors that are a natural part of the poultry grow-out process, while at the same time improving farm aesthetics.

“Investing in foliage and landscaping around poultry farms can pay multiple environmental dividends to growers,” said Patterson. “Certainly they can help beautify the landscape by providing a visual barrier for operations, so neighbours don’t have to be constantly exposed to routine activities like feed deliveries and the loading and unloading of birds. But at least equally important, vegetative buffers can also help address a number of issues relating to poultry farm operations that nearby residents, particularly those new to the rural areas where poultry farms tend to be located, sometimes complain about – and which some state legislatures have begun demanding that growers address.”

PSA President Dr. Sally Noll: “Prof. Patterson’s work has broken new ground in demonstrating the variety and effectiveness of vegetative buffers as tools to help meet some of the challenges now facing the poultry industry when producing poultry in more populated areas.”

Dust

In research at a Penn State hen farm, Patterson’s team measured a 67% reduction in total levels of particulate matter (PM) at a distance of 20 ft downwind from a 5-row vegetative buffer, with important differences in the types of plant species used. Particulate matter at 2.5 microns and 10 microns (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively) are EPA regulated emissions.

The team observed differences in the species of foliage used, with willow capturing more of the fine PM2.5 and less of the intermediate sized PM10 than juniper vegetation. Associated research showed that spruce and hybrid willow are effective traps for dust and its associated odours.

Odour

In Pennsylvania, in order to reduce the potential for community conflict, new and expanding poultry and livestock farms are required by the state to develop an odour management plan and submit to an odour site index. Scoring high values on the index require farmers to implement specific, and often costly, Best Management Practices (BMPs) specified by the state. According to PSA, studies by Patterson’s team have shown that appropriate use of vegetative buffers can help reduce odours and associated index scores.

In a September 2008 study, Patterson’s team measured a 46-54% reduction in odour levels as a result of the use of a vegetative buffer comprising 50 fir, juniper, willow, ornamental pear and birch trees, when compared to odours without trees present. The study used a pot-in-pot system that allowed placement and removal of the trees; the odour levels were determined using St. Croix Sensory’s AC’SENT® olfactormetry software.

Ammonia

According to PSA, Patterson has also demonstrated that vegetation can help trap ammonia emissions emanating from poultry houses. The amount of foliage needed to “scrub” emissions will depend on the size and type of facilities. The vegetation used by Patterson in his ammonia studies included Honey locust, Hybrid poplar vegetation, Reed canary grass, and Norway spruce.

Patterson has also shown that vegetative buffers can be effective in reducing Infectious Bronchitis (IBV) transmission, via wind, between birds on the same or different farms.

Other advantages

“In addition to improving farm aesthetics and lowering dust, odour and ammonia levels, shrubs and trees can also help hold down energy costs,” noted Patterson. “Strategically placed, these buffers can act as snow fences, dropping snow in front of the buildings instead of on the roof or around access roads, feed bins, or fans. Other vegetation can be planted to shade the radiant load of summer sun on the buildings to cool the air entering the inlets or curtains. So investment in appropriately selected and sited vegetation around poultry farms really can yield a surprising number of benefits.”

Patterson’s work was funded by grants from the USDA National Resources Conservation Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.