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INFLUENCE OF MODELLING CHOICES ON THE RESULTS OF LANDFILL ODOUR DISPERSION

  • Francesca Tagliaferri - Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
  • Marzio Invernizzi - Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
  • Selena Sironi - Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
  • Laura Capelli - Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

DOI 10.31025/2611-4135/2020.13998

Released under CC BY-NC-ND

Copyright: © 2019 CISA Publisher

Abstract

Landfills are an important source of odour pollution, potentially causing nuisance to adjacent populations. The most commonly used odour impact assessment for this type of plants usually involves a combination of dynamic olfactometry with dispersion modelling. Despite the advantages associated with the use of dispersion models, there are still some important issues related to their uncertainty. The dispersion model requires the Odour Emission Rate (OER) as input, expressed as units of odour emitted per unit time. Source term characterization and the estimation of the OER are typically the most important steps in the model’s implementation, accounting for the highest contribution to the overall uncertainty. Another important element of uncertainty when modelling emissions from landfill surfaces is the geometrical implementation of the emission source in the dispersion model. This entails the definition of the initial dimensions of the emission, which is critical in the case of large area sources. This paper discusses issues related to uncertainty in the use of dispersion models for the evaluation of landfill odour impacts, particularly focusing on the estimation of the OER and the emission’s initial vertical dimension. This study shows that modelling choices may lead to a variance in the resulting modelled odour concentrations at receptors differing by up to a factor 3. This variability should not cause distrust in the method, but rather indicates the importance of having odour dispersion modelling studies carried out by experts with deep knowledge of the physical-chemical mechanisms underlying atmospheric emissions.

Keywords

Editorial History

  • Received: 27 Nov 2019
  • Revised: 24 Mar 2020
  • Accepted: 25 Mar 2020
  • Available online: 26 Jul 2020

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