Optimising odour treatment at a waste management facility

1. Existing treatment set-ups may be optimised by the addition of activated carbon filters to reach lower odour limits.
2. Mobile activated carbon filters are easy to set up when companies need to boost purification capacity.
3. In this case with high flow rate, activated carbon filtration was applied to a third of the flow to reduce concentrations before further treatment.

This client is a major Italian waste treatment company, offering services including the recycling of plastic packaging as well as biogas/ biomethane production from organic waste.

Air emissions extracted from its organic waste storage contain odorous molecules, including a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia. These emissions are treated with a scrubber and an open biofilter – a widely used set-up in many sectors. 

This has generally worked well when concentrations of odorous molecules are steady, but cannot handle intermittent peaks. 

Therefore, the company received odour complaints from people living nearby, and came under pressure from the authorities to take action. 

The company already had a strong working relationship with DESOTEC, having worked with us on several biogas purification projects. After we gave a presentation about our air treatment technology, the client turned to us for a solution for odour issues.  

Tests at the outlet show the set-up reduces odours to 300 uoE/ m³. The client is so pleased with this result that it decided to keep the 2 AIRCON V filters and this set-up in place even after the completion of the biofilter maintenance work.

Following this, the client commissioned a study with the support of external labs, which validated the method. It was then approved by the environmental authorities. 

The client is now in discussions with DESOTEC to provide further solutions for other sources of odorous emissions at the site.

DESOTEC’s solution has been in place for over a year, with filter exchanges roughly once every six weeks. 

Exchange is a quick and simple process requiring minimal downtime. DESOTEC then transports the closed filter away from the client’s site to its own facilities, where the waste carbon is emptied, sampled and sorted.

The carbon is then treated in our furnace, where all compounds adsorbed onto the spent carbon are desorbed and destroyed. Carbon from this client can be reactivated for reuse in future applications, boosting sustainability and driving down costs.