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New sniffing device improves analysis of odour from beef production

Alberta cattle producers have invested in research that has produced technology to measure odour from beef production. The eight-port olfactometer, as part of a mobile air quality laboratory, will make measurement simpler, faster, more cost effective and efficient.

The newly designed, eight-port olfactometer will provide an objective, reliable and accurate measurement of odour, says Dr. Richard Coleman, formerly of the Alberta Research Council, who along with Dr. Guoliang Qu, Alberta Research Council, and Dr. John Feddes of the University of Alberta, developed the improved olfactometer. "By providing objective odour analysis in reduced time, the new olfactometer is a tool that will benefit the entire beef industry."

The development of the eight-port olfactometer was supported in part by the Canada Alberta Beef Industry Development Fund (CABIDF).

With an olfactometer, a panel of trained participants sniff the air from olfactometer ports. Neutral air samples are mixed with varying levels of a target gas and panellists indicate the point at which they begin to detect odour. Based on these levels, researchers can then establish an odour threshold for the gas.

"The new olfactometer represents a significant improvement over previous models," says Coleman. "With a single port olfactometer, only one person can 'sniff' at a time. Considering that each test needs to be run with eight participants, testing takes a tremendous amount of time. The new eight-port olfactometer sharply reduces testing time and therefore cost because it allows eight participants to test simultaneously."

The standard approach for measuring odour concentration uses the olfactometry method, which uses human noses as sensors to evaluate odour samples with an olfactometer, in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards and draft European CEN standards.

"An olfactometer allows an odorous gas to be diluted with neutral gas to varying degrees and then presented to the test panel,'" says Coleman. "At each dilution level, the panellists are forced to make a choice as to which presentation contains odour. The detection threshold is established when 50 percent of the eight panellists have correctly detected the odorous sample from the odour-free samples.

"The eight-port olfactometer, though designed similarly to the single-port device, has a number of advantages over its predecessor," he says. "It reduces odour contamination potential because components for the neutral air are never in contact with components for odorous air. It saves time because there is no need to purge the system between dilution levels. It is cheaper to manufacture because only one chamber needs special construction materials. And finally, because a panellist is always sniffing from the same funnel, there is less psychological bias."

Coleman says that the new olfactometer is a significant gain for Alberta's beef industry. Not only does it provide objective, science-based odour detection in reduced time, it can be used to help assess new odour control technologies and to develop new manure management procedures and beef production regulations.

Already the eight-port olfactometer, which is accepted for use by the ASTM and the draft European CEN standard, has been used in Alberta's livestock industry. It was used in two other CABIDF-funded studies on air quality in and around Alberta feedlots.

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