In this study, the hydrogen sulfide removal performance of materials that can be used instead of NaOH was evaluated to reduce the amount of NaOH, a harmful substance used in chemical cleaning methods. Three alternative chemical agents were evaluated: commercially available chemical-based CB, enzyme-based EB, and natural substance-based NB. The hydrogen sulfide removal performance evaluation consisted of three lab tests: the EL608 method, a method using a bag, a method using a sensor and a chamber, and a field test conducted on a scrubber in operation in the actual field. As a result of evaluation by the EL608 Method, CB was 92.3% (±2.9%), EB 60.5% (±5.8%), and NB 88.3% (±3.6%), similar or somewhat similar to NaOH (5%) 99.8% (0.1%). In the evaluation of the hydrogen sulfide removal performance using Bag, the Michaelis-Menten coefficient was CB 4.30 and EB 5.30, lower than NaOH 6.60, and the affinity for hydrogen sulfide was evaluated to be stronger. Even in the method using the sensor and chamber, CB and EB showed similar hydrogen sulfide removal performance of NaOH, but NB showed low treatment performance. In the evaluation using the scrubber in the actual field, the treatment efficiency of CB and EB was higher than that of NaOH under all hydrogen sulfide inlet concentration conditions. If microorganisms grow on the packing material filled inside the scrubber, treatment efficiency may decrease. In order to prevent this phenomenon, the microbial growth inhibitory function of alternative materials was evaluated, and CB, EB, and NB were all superior to NaOH. As a result of this study, it was shown that CB and EB can replace NaOH because they have excellent performance in removing hydrogen sulfide and inhibiting microbial growth.

In this study, the removal performance of high-concentration H2S and complex odors was evaluated for bio-filters installed in sewage treatment plants and manure treatment plants. The amount of odor generation according to temperature was found to be higher in summer than in spring. It was found that the longer the empty bed retention time of the bio-filter, the higher the odor removal efficiency. Therefore, in order to effectively remove odors, it is necessary to maintain a sufficiently long residence time when designing a bio-filter. In addition, a case in which a bio-filter and a wet pre-treatment system were combined to remove high-concentration odors was studied. The result showed that the wet pre-treatment was effective in removing high-concentration odors. In particular, most of the hydrogen sulfide could be adequately removed by wet pre-treatment.

The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the effects of temperature and relative humidity on two electrochemical sensors measuring hydrogen sulfide and ammonia using a laboratory testing system for various sensors, and (ii) to propose a calibration method for those concentrations to collect more reliable monitoring data. The effect of temperature and relative humidity was tested under three different conditions, respectively. The linearities measured data under all different conditions for the relative humidity and temperature were excellent, indicating more than 0.99 of R2 for both odor sensors. Under the condition of zero concentration, baselines (intercepts) at zero increased with increasing relative humidity for both hydrogen sulfide and ammonia sensors. The rate of gas concentration according to ADC variation (slopes) increased with increasing relative humidity about only the hydrogen sulfide sensor. In this study, slope, and intercept are utilized for calibration of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia concentration, and the reliability of the data of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia sensors is further enhanced by the relational expression obtained by this paper.

In this study, we conducted a survey on odor characteristics of single odor and collective odor facilities using the German olfactory odor method and carried out the odor frequency modeling. The influence of the odor from a sewage treatment plant, which is a single discharge facility, was strong in the eastern and northern parts of the plant and appeared to be in good agreement with the areas where the odor complaints were frequent. The German olfactory method reflects the odor complaints and odor occurrence characteristics of the receptors as compared with the domestic odor measurement method. The influence of the odor from the odor control area, which is a collecting and discharging facility, showed a tendency in which the sum of the odor occurrence frequency increased with the proximity of the odor discharge facility to the dense industrial complex. Furthermore, it was judged that it is not easy to extract the odor frequency results for individual facilities because the survey subject is the group discharge facility area. Therefore, it will be necessary to introduce a method to manage odor in the future. In this study, the measurement of odor frequency using the German olfactory odor method is partially applied to some odor sources. Appropriately, it is not applicable to various emission sources. However, the odor measurement method based on odor occurrence frequency and odor sensory can be used for investigation of the actual condition, permits of odor discharge facilities and the environmental review.

Odor emission factors (OEFs) are important parameters in characterizing odor sources, understanding emission patterns, designing abatement facilities, and providing appropriate control methods. In this study, OEFs for complex odor from grit removal chambers in publicly-owned wastewater treatment plants were determined, and the major operating conditions affecting the emission factors were investigated. In the main study site of “S” wastewater treatment plant, the averaged OEFs from the grit chamber were found to be 466.2, 162.6, and 54.7 OU/m2/min in summer, spring, and winter, respectively. OEFs from two other grit chambers in different wastewater plants were independently measured for comparison, and the values were in the same range as the OEF from S-site at a 95% confidence level. Nevertheless, the OEFs could differ depending on the types of wastewater and the sizes of wastewater treatment plants. Using the multi-variable linear regression method, correlations between OEFs and operating conditions, i.e. activities, from grit chambers were statistically analyzed. The analyses showed that operating conditions, including total suspended solids, water temperature, and temperature difference between water and air, were the most significant parameters affecting the OEF. A linear equation using these three parameters was proposed to estimate the OEF, and can be used to predict an OEF for another grit chamber, without odor measurement.