The effect of the change in air inflow velocity has been investigated at the opening of the malodor emission source to determine its influence on the Complex odor concentration. Both the Complex odor collection efficiency and concentrations were measured according to the change in airflow velocity. When the air inflow velocity was 0.1 m/s, it was observed that some of the generated gas streams were diffused to the outside due to low collection efficiency. In contrast, only the increased gas collection volume up to 0.5 m/s showed no substantial reduction of the Complex odor concentration, which indicates an increase in the size of the local exhaust system as well as the operation cost for the Complex odor control device. When the air inflow velocity reached 0.3 m/s, the Complex odor concentrations not only were the lowest, but the odorous gas could also be collected efficiently. The air inflow velocity at the opening of the malodor emission source was considered the key factor in determining the gas collection volume. Therefore, based on the results of this study, an optimal air inflow velocity might be suggestive to be 0.3 m/s.

Most of the odorous substances generated in public environment facilities are treated using a local exhaust ventilation system. This study assessed the leakage of odorous substances by measuring design criteria, collected air volume, and complex odor in the unit process of sewage treatment facilities. The closer the guideline/design operation airflow ratio of each odor source is to 1.0, the more identical the guideline:design:operation airflow. The average air volume ratio of the facilities under the study was 0.95~0.99 for the MBR process and 0.29~0.68 for the BNR process. As a result of comparing the types of wastewater treatment processes, the leakage of odorous substances was about 9.7 times higher in the BNR process (192,732 m3/min) than in the MBR process (19,838 m3/ min). In this study, it was found that the following two means are important for the proper collection and prevention of odorous substances. The first is the estimation of collection air volume with consideration to the characteristics of the odor source (temperature, odor generation condition, etc.). The second is the design and operation of the local exhaust ventilation system.