Modelling Odour Emissions from an Industrial Area in Northern
Greece - Abstract
Ilias Petrou 1, Kyriaki Psistaki 2, Ioannis M. Dokas 3 and Anastasia K. Paschalidou 2
1
  Laboratory of Meteorology, Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, Greece
2
  Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of
Thrace, Greece
3
  Department of Civil Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece


                 Summary
                 Olfaction is one of the basic human senses which enables the detection of odorous substances
                 and triggers various subjective psychological and physical symptoms via the nervous system.
                 At elevated concentrations, industrial odours emitted during production processes can be
                 annoying for employees and nearby residents and they have been linked to several health
                 effects, such as cough, nausea, headache, eyes’ irritation, fatigue and sleep disorders, as well
                 as a general feeling of discomfort and stress. Apart from the levels and duration of exposure,
                 odours-related symptoms are determined by age, sex and various socioeconomic factors. As a
                 result, the adverse outcomes can lead to decreased productivity, poor quality of life and
                 devaluation of local properties. The present work is focused on the Phosphate Fertilizer
                 Industry of Kavala in Northern Greece. Some of the most important air pollutants emitted
                 during the process of fertilizers’ production are NO2, SO2, HF and NH3 which have pungent
                 and irritating odour. This industry employs 120 workers, and it is located at a distance of 2.5
                 km west from the town of New Karvali and 5 km east from the city of Kavala, where 2.244
                 and 58.663 people live, respectively. The residents occasionally complain to local authorities
                 about intense malodorous emissions. The objective of this study was to quantify these odour
                 emissions. For this purpose, different scenarios corresponding to the prevailing winds over the
                 area of interest and meteorological conditions which stand for the Pasquill-Gifford stability
                 categories A-G were considered, using the Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling System (ADMS-
                 5). The long-term output of odour (averaging time of 1 hour) as well the 98th percentile of
                 concentrations was investigated. The results were compared to the annoyance levels proposed
                 by the UK Environment Agency, as no statutory national standards exist. The maximum
                 predicted 98th percentile of hourly average odour concentrations (0.7 ouE/m3) occurred under
                 extremely stable conditions (Pasquill-Gifford category F) with south-easterly wind, while the
                 maximum long term average concentrations (0.2 ou E/m3) occurred under slightly stable
                 conditions (Pasquill-Gifford category E) with north-easterly winds. The odour concentration
                 did not exceed the annoyance levels in any case, even at distances very close to the sources.
                 These results highlight the importance of atmospheric stability in odour dispersion and can be
                 used in odour impact assessment studies.

                 Keywords 1
                 ADMS-5 dispersion model, odour emissions’ modeling, air pollution

                 Acknowledgements
                 We acknowledge support of this work by the project “Risk and Resilience Assessment Center
                 –Prefecture of East Macedonia and Thrace - Greece.” (MIS 5047293) which is implemented
                 under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure”, funded by
                 the Operational Programme "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (NSRF


Proceedings of HAICTA 2022, September 22–25, 2022, Athens, Greece
EMAIL: i.petrou@uoi.gr (A. 1); kpsistak@fmenr.duth.gr (A. 2); idokas@civil.duth.gr (A. 3); apascha@fmenr.duth.gr (A. 4)
ORCID: 0000-0002-7406-9911 (A. 1); 0000-0002-3765-5217 (A. 3); 0000-0001-5354-7198 (A. 4)
              ©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
              Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
              CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)




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2014-2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional
Development Fund).




                        Co-financed by Greece and the European Union




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