In Korea, odor emission control is carried out at the boundary between the discharge port and the site based on the height of the discharge port, but in Japan and the U.K. a range of characteristics are considered in odor management, including the height, size, and amount of exhaust gas, when managing the acceptance criteria of the discharge port that conforms to the odor concentration standards based on the site boundary. In this study, the permitted concentration of odor in the outlet was studied considering the design conditions of the outlet, in order to manage it based on the distance between the outlet and the residential area. To improve the effectiveness of odor management, Korean odor management measures were reviewed by applying the methods used to calculate odor concentration in Japan and the U.K. Guidelines on effective odor reduction were provided by calculating the permissible odor concentration for each condition based on the flow rate and height of the final outlet to comply with the permissible concentration at regular intervals at the outlet of the factory.

This research determined the threshold value of 10 specified offensive odor substances based on the 3 point comparison sensory method. The panelist's thresholds were calculated by taking the arithmetic, geometric mean, and 50th percentile. Three methods of calculating the odor thresholds from the same data are compared. For 10 odor substances, the panelist's thresholds revealed a logarithmically normal distribution. The 50th percentile was the best method among the three methods of calculating the odor threshold from the 270 thresholds of 18 panels. As a result, the threshold values of individual odor substances, including i-valeric acid, n-valeric acid, n-butyric acid, and butyl acetate ranged between 0.0001~0.006 ppm, while the values of methyl ethyl ketone and toluene were relatively higher than that of other substances at 0.7107 ppm and 1.2139 ppm, respectively. The threshold values of the 10 specified odor substances were compared in Korea and overseas, which showed that the characteristics of sensory response varied by substance and nation.

The object of this study is to investigate the relationship between the air dilution sensory test and the threshold odor number (TON) method for evaluating the odor of domestic wastewater, plating plant wastewater, food plant wastewater and lake water. The dilution factor of raw wastewater evaluated by the air dilution sensory test was in the order of food plant > plating plant > domestic > lake, and that evaluated by the threshold odor number method was in the order of food plant > domestic > plating plant > lake. The same results were obtained when the raw wastewater and lake water were diluted 2 and 5 times with pure water. The relative geometric standard deviation determined from the threshold values of each panel on the air dilution sensory test was much larger than that calculated from results derived from the threshold odor number method. The relative geometric standard deviation obtained from samples with a low dilution factor was greater. There was a very good linear correlation (correlation coefficient = 0.968~1.000) between the air dilution sensory test and the threshold odor number method. But, the reduction in odor intensity (the slopes of regression curves) by dilution was dependent on the types of the odor-emission sources.