Lee HD  Kang DJ  Lee MH  Kang DH  Oh KJ

Major offensive odorants Complex odor Contribution Food waste combination treatment Removal efficiency assessment

Environmental issues are being paid more attention due to income growth, urban overcrowding, and population growth in Korea. Among the various environmental problems, odor damage is the one of the serious factors. To take example for food waste combination treatment in Su-young wastewater treatment plant in Busan, many complaints occurred because this plant locate around residential areas. The purpose of this work is not only to analyze odorous elements and their contributions but also to evaluate odor quotient (OQ), sum of odor quotient (SOQ), and treatment efficiency of bio-filter. The results of dilution sensory test of complex odor, grinder, leachate, hopper indicated higher order complex odors happen in July and August. The main odorous elements consisted of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methly mercaptan and acetaldehyde, which were analyzed by instrumental detection method, and methyl mercaptan was exceeded over 3,571 times of threshold. In addition, result of contribution of odor was methyl mercaptan (49.95 to 59.08%), hydrogen sulfide (20.43 to 29.27%), trimethylamine (8.82 to 13.42%) and acetaldehyde (9.17 to 11.35%). Other facilities were compared with the contribution of the odor using OQ and SOQ during the process. Sulfur compounds, acetaldehyde, and trimethylamine are high contribution of odor using OQ as well as odor intensity of grinding process is highest. As a result, sulfur compounds (e.g., methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide) are highest for OQ and SOQ of grinding process is highest as 7,067. The removal efficiency of deodorization equipment was more than 90.00% in ammonia and amines, but the average efficiency of sulfur compounds was 53.51%. Thus, this facility is more higher contribution of acetaldehyde and trimethylamine than other treatment facilities. And food waste treatment in environmental area needs to consider appropriate capacity and refers to other bio-filter operating conditions.