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chapter n
' Bloomfield and DailaValle: Determination and Control ofIndus^
trial Dual (U. 8. Public Health Service Bulletin.Ho. 217, 1935).- ;
Philip Drinker and TheodbreHAtch:
--ffygimtc
Significance, Measurement, and Co7droJ'(MeGraw-HiU Book Co., New York, 1954, 2nd edj.
Theodore Hatch' aiid Paul Gross:^Pulmonary Deposition and
Retention a} Inhaled Aerosol* (Academic Press, New York, 1964).
Ai D. Bnadt:.IndxuOidl 'Health"Bnffineaing (John Wiley. A
Sons, Int, New.York, 1947). :r
L. T. Fairhsll: Inauetrial.Toxieoloffv (The Williams A.WEkiiis
Compaiiyi'Baltimare,' 1957).'
1" ,, . ,
HandbookofOrganic'Sotoents,Techaioal Guide No. 6 (National
7965 Guide And : Data BoolT:
Association of-Mutual Casualty,Companies, Chicago,.1961):
Monthly Industrial Hygiene . Digest (abstracts),* and mia?
oellatieous bulletins (Industrial Hygiene: Foundation, Pitts-*
burgh). ' ! - >' '
.j.ti
American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal(bimonthly) 14125 Prevost, Detroit 27, Mtch.).
Archives of Environmental Health (monthly) (American
Medical Association, Chicago).
' '*
Journal of Occupational Medicine (monthly) (Industrial
Medical Association,Chicago).
'
... .--tj
-Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association (monthly) (Air Pollution Control Association, Pittsburgh). ,
CHAPTER 12
ODORS
Odors one# Odor Control; Odor Detection and Measurement; Odor Sources, Humidify and Temperature Effects; Adsorption end ' - Release of Odors; Odor Removal; Ventilation; Charcoal Adsorption; Washing and Scrubbing; Chemical Reaction; . Neutralization, Masking, and Counteractiont Combustion Methods
CONTROL of odors would not be necessary if the air were lowered appetite, lowered water consumption, impaired Hnn and uncontaminated. This is usually not the case, respiration, nausea, vomiting, and insomnia.* : particularly in crowded buildings; urban areas, and industrial . .Some odors may-not always be recognised as such. Some
centers where contaminants are concentrated and obnoxious people, for example, may characterise the air in a space as
or where harmful odors are generated. It is therefore neces fresh or dean, tide or stuffy. Fresh air may be odor-free, or it
sary-to select a suitable and economical means of improving may have a pleasant, outdoor-type of odor (such as the scent
the quality of the-air. This is a problem similar, to that of controlling air pollution by means of smoke abatement and
of pine oil). Stuffy air, on the other hand, usually is air that is mntAminntpH with a conglomeration of occupied-space .odora,
dust removal. A knowledge of the nature and magnitude of which produces a depressing physiological .or psychological
the odor-and its indoor or- outdoor source is necessary for a response, rather than: the sensation of odors. In some cases
satisfactory solution of the problem of odor;- control. odors are *nHBd initially but the - depressing effect remains
Community planning and coning will avoid much of the diffn after the nose has been desensitized. According to some
culty in the future, but meanwhile many industrial cities must authorities, stuffy odors do actually produce-a physiological
resort to corrective measures by requiring installation of air reaction; breathing becomes shallower, and pulse and respira
pJpAning devices, alteration of manufacturing- processes, or tion rate are slowed.
termination of the offensive operation in residential or com
Odors associated with some dangerous gases and vapors
mercial districts.
serve as.immediate valuable warning agents against poison
Control of outdoor odor nuisance is especially troublesome ing or explosion. However, some toxic substances have'no
because of the extremely minute quantities of contaminant associated odors. Warning against such gases can be obtained,
that are capable of offending through a wide area. New indus by adding trader or warning agents to the otherwise odorless
trial chemicals with strange or unfamiliar odors tend to re gases, as is sometimes done with gas fuels. While odors give
ceive more attention from the neighborhood than the custom immediate warning to persons entering dangerous atmos
ary odors generated by well-known processes and raw pheres, irritants are more satisfactory for warning against
materials. Methods of odor control currently, in use include gradually increasing concentrations of a low order. Odors',
charcoal adsorption, chemical reaction/ scrubbing towers and serve as an index to personal discomfort in enclosed spaces,''
air washers, chlorination, condensation, masking, passage of but.are not necessarily an index to harmful vitiation in re-;
the odorous air through combustion chambers, dispersion spect to inniffirient oxygen or an excess of carbon dioxide/
through a tall stack, and best of all, substitution of less offen
Odors can be characterized by three factors: (1) they must y
sive materials whenever possible.*-*
have a source, (2) they must enter the environmental air, (3)
ODORS AND ODOR CONTROL
they must move to a biologic sensor which registers them as pleasant or unpleasant. Generally speaking,. odors may be
Odor is defined as that property of a substance which excites the sense of smelL To be odorous, a substance is usually in a gaseous or vapor state, or possesses a vapor pres sure.1 Some odors .are pleasant*-others unpleasant, depending on their psychological and sociological associations.
Odors in themselves are not the-cause of.organic disease. The discomfort and disagreeableness'; that may be brought about by obnoxious odors,' however,' may cause some tempo rary ill effects. The effects,that fringe upon ill health include
Tbe (attend revpoenbiBt? for. thl c*ptr' i Msigavd to, TC 1.6 Odor
' t *od Control
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controlled by control of each of these factors: release from
source, migration, or sensing. The most economical solution
will vary with different odor problems.
An odor is simply one or more discrete chemical molecules'
capabk of stimulating the sense of smell. The manner in which-
certain chemicals can elicit an olfactory response is not known'
at this;time. It is, therefore, impossible to assign odorousness
as a property peculiar to certain chemical elements, com--
pounds or structures, although odor quahties can be associ
ated with such molecular arrangements as aldehydes, esters
and ketones.
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