During pre-construction, the project team were looking for a method to objectively understand odours being released from remediation activities required on the former gasworks site. Existing methods currently rely on subjective sniff testing. The project team challenged their consultants to come up with an alternative method.
Following discussions with remediation consultants, AECOM, the project team at Poplar procured three odour monitoring units from an American supplier, Sensigent. Sensigent are market leaders in technologies often referred to as ‘electronic noses’.
The three MSEM 3200 continuous odour monitoring units deployed on site are advanced instruments which are configured and operated to provide continuous, real-time measurement of odours. The instruments contain an array of environmental and gas detection sensors which allow for quantitative reporting of odour unit concentration (OU/m3).
This metric has been derived as a practical descriptor for the concentration of odours where the individual constituents of an odour may not be known (as is the case on contaminated land sites). In addition to reporting odour unit concentrations, the instruments are able to provide continuous direct measurements of the concentrations of key groups and/or individual species of chemical substances (e.g. Total VOCs, hydrogen sulphide (H2S), ammonia (NH3) and mercaptans). One of the three instruments on-site has also been integrated with a meteorological monitoring station to obtain time-matched weather condition information.
The information captured is combined with an amber and red alert trigger system to ensure measures are put in place to minimise odour and cover stockpiles s
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