Today's
Feature
Odor Study
Phase One Results.
The Missouri
Department of Natural Resources, Environmental
Quality Department, has released the findings of
the first phase of an "odorant
prioritization" study which was conducted by
Microanalytics, a MOCON company. The study was
conducted over a 5 day period from October 28 to
November 1. A news release from DNR says,
"The initial investigation was designed to
determine specific chemical elements in the
nuisance odors experienced by citizens in
Carthage in the hopes of aiding the department in
identifying the source or sources of the
odors."
The following are
notes from the study, part of a daily log kept by
Donald Wright, consultant from Microanalytics
during his tour of Carthage.
"Daily Log:
October 28, 2007; Sunday
• Arrive in
Carthage @ 1500 hrs.
• Perform
initial survey of the Carthage area: (1)
surprised at the relatively low odor intensity on
survey circuit (Central Ave to 96 N, east on Java
Street to Garrison, south on Garrison back to
Central and repeat); (2) odor events of note were
(a) consistent wood smoke in the Kendricktown
intersection and (b) an ‘industrial
burnt’ odor note I described as
‘overheated break lining’ odor on
Garrison street north of Central Ave intersection
(Monday night probably); (3) I commented to Helen
that I did not believe that this was the problem
which we were here to investigate based upon the
description and my own perception; (4) subsequent
discussion on Tuesday with Brooks McNeil
confirmed my suspicions as Brooks commented that
this odor was known to he and Paul Vitzthum and,
further, was known to originate from Leggett and
Platt. The ‘overheated breaklining’
odor was shown to linger in the same area of
Garrison for an extended period of time (at @
1900 to 2000 hrs).
Daily Log: October
29, 2007; Monday
• Our arrival
in Carthage followed on an extended period of
stable, mild weather with winds generally from a
southerly direction. This stable condition
continued until Wednesday, October 31st and was
broken with the arrival of a cold front and a
gradual shifting of the winds from the north
during the day on Wednesday.
• Monday was
spent in familiarizing ourselves with the area
and performing exploratory spot odor assessments;
primarily in the ‘perimeter circuit’.
Beyond the Kendricktown ‘smoke’ and the
Garrison at Central ‘overheated
breaklining’ events nothing else of apparent
significance was noted.
• Some time
on Monday was spent at the Kellogg Lake park,
setting up and checking out the weather station /
sampler assemblies.
• Phone
discussions with Mark Rader, Paul Vitzthum and
Brooks McNeil regarding scheduling and planning
for the project: (1) informed that both RES and
Butterball had been shut down since the previous
Thursday / Friday timeframe, RES as a result of a
leaking pump flange and Butterball as a result of
a leaking roof and under direction of the FDA
(This was assumed by all, to account for the
common observation of low [characteristic] odor
impact in the community during Sunday and Monday
timeframe) and (2) discussed plan to meet on
Tuesday afternoon for face to face discussions at
the DNR office on the square.
Daily Log: October
30, 2007; Tuesday
• Continued
general area assessment on the ‘perimeter
circuit’, the Jasmine loop and beyond. (1)
located good sample sites along Java Street
through a chance meeting with the owner of a
portion of the land between Java Street and the
river to the north of the Carthage Bottoms area.
This gentleman gave us free run to set up for
sampling anywhere on his properties; (2) these
locations appear to be optimum for the situation
of stable weather and southerly prevailing winds
such as we had seen since our arrival in town and
(3) confirmation of the latter on Tuesday with
our first apparent detection of periodic,
transient and mild odor events in these locations
during the afternoon. Afternoon discussions with
Paul and Brooks appeared to confirm that these
events coincided with their indications that RES
and Butterball were starting back into operation.
• My initial
perceptions of the odor character were described
as ‘sulfurous’, ‘burnt’ and
‘papermill-like’ and this description
was generally agreed with by my associate (and
wife) Helen. This assessment was consistent
during these few brief and mild detection events
but, at that time, it was not clear to us as to
whether this odor character was consistent with
the overriding odor issue as perceived by the
community at-large.
Daily Log: October
31, 2007; Wednesday
• Continued
general area assessment on the ‘perimeter
circuit’, the Jasmine loop and beyond. (1)
picked up the first significant odor event since
arrival during an early morning drive around
assessment @ 0815 hrs; (2) the location of the
observed event was to the north of the Bottoms
area on Java Street behind the Tower fence; (3)
the odor character at the time of the event was
consistent with the ‘sulfurous’,
‘papermill’ and ‘burnt’
descriptions as first noted the previous day; (4)
it is noteworthy that at the time of the observed
event the prevailing wind direction was generally
southerly (as it had been since our arrival on
Sunday); (5) as a result of the intensity of the
event I took the opportunity to perform a walking
assessment of the location; cross-sectioning the
plume on the perpendicular relative to the
direction of flow; (6) in pacing back and forth
several times between the trucking company
parking lot and the Tower (along the south side
Java Street road edge) I was surprised at how
narrow the detectable plume appeared to be; it
was possible to go from relatively mild or
negligible intensity into a region of high
intensity and back out within just a few paces;
(7) it is noteworthy that almost simultaneous
with this early morning assessment the prevailing
wind direction began a slow and steady clockwise
rotation from generally southerly to generally
northerly over the next @ 12 hours (coincident
with increasing windspeed marking arrival of a
cold front); (8) it is noteworthy that within a
few minutes of having left the Java Street site
and returning to the White Rose B&B near
Kellogg Lake I received a call from Paul Vitzthum
@ 0830 notifying me of a complaint which had just
been received from a citizen (coincidentally from
the Java Street location directly across the
street from the location where I had just
completed my walking assessment and apparently at
approximately the same time) and (9) I carried
out a follow-up on-site interview with the
complainant citizen (located on East Java Street)
and got the following feedback: (a) the odor
event of Wednesday morning was consistent in
character with that which reflects her perception
of the historical downwind odor problem; (b) the
intensity of this particular event was
approximately of medium intensity relative to the
worst excursions which have been seen
historically and (c) received her assurance that
she had been unaware of my odor assessment
activities across the street at the time of her
complaint call.
• Upon
returning to the Java Street site within a few
minutes of the complaint notification, it was
observed that the wind direction had already
begun its clockwise rotation (coincident with the
shift of the detectable plume center to the
Kellogg Lake area to the northeast of the Bottoms
Area source). This rotation continued throughout
the day ...
• The first
downwind SPME sampling session since arrival was
carried out coincident with the Vine at Eldorado
levee base location at mid afternoon and this was
followed up with an upwind reference series at
the Java Street Tower location. The downwind
session ran from approximately 1410 hrs to 1500
hrs and was characterized by transient bursts of
the distinct to strong characteristic odor
interspersed with periods of mild to
imperceptible odor intensity. The latter case
appeared to dominate during this sampling session
and the winds were relatively strong @ 8 to 13
mph and quite variable; ranging approximately
from WNW to NNW. Other associated weather data
included: (1) temperature range @ 62 to 64 deg F;
(2) dew point @ 50 deg F; (3) relative humidity @
63% and (4) barometric pressure @ 30.1 inches.
The upwind session ran from approximately 1544
hrs to 1615 hrs with weather conditions generally
identical to that of the downwind session with
the exception of wind direction beginning to
range slightly more northerly. The more obvious
difference between the upwind and downwind
sampling sessions was the complete absence of the
transient, characteristic odor bursts during the
upwind session.
• We received
a visit from Brooks McNeil while wrapping up the
sampling session at the Vine X Eldorado downwind
location. I took the opportunity to demonstrate
the SPME sampling device, support assemblies and
procedures to Brooks for the situation wherein
on-site sampling by DNR contacts on my behalf
might be indicated. This also afforded a good
opportunity for continued discussions between
Brooks, Helen and myself relating to the targeted
odor character perceptions. One interesting
comment from Brooks related to a
‘chlorine’ or ‘swimming pool’
odor which would be emitted by [RES] sic during
certain conditions of operation. In fact, Helen
and I had both previously detected brief bursts
of this odor event and the comment had been made
likening it to ‘chlorine’ or
‘Chlorox’. Brooks comment served as
valuable confirmation that we had, in fact,
witnessed a known, significant secondary odor
event.
• The balance
of the day was spent in tracking the odor plume
by a combination of truck movement and on-foot. A
decision was made to conserve the limited number
of remaining prepared SPME fibers for a period of
more stable wind direction and corresponding
stationary odor impact zone (i.e. less of an
attempt to sample what, up to that time, appeared
to be a relatively small and moving target). The
final observation of the moving odor event was @
1845 at the uptown location centered on the
intersection of 3rd and Lincoln and ranging down
Lincoln to at least Central Avenue. This appeared
to be a relatively strong, characteristic and
lingering event but no attempt was made to sample
at that time; opting to wait for expected
increasing weather stability which was predicted
for Thursday (i.e. both in terms of an extended
period of generally easterly wind direction as
well as reduced windspeed). ...
Daily Log:
November 1, 2007; Thursday
• Continued
general area assessment on the ‘perimeter
circuit’, the Jasmine loop and beyond.
• As
predicted the wind direction had shifted from a
generally easterly direction overnight placing
the first encountered odor plume on Garrison
Street, in the region bounded approximately by
its intersections with Eldorado and High streets.
As a result, a sampling session was carried out
at the Garrison X Eldorado downwind site during
the approximate timeframe of 1048 hrs to 1136
hrs. A subsequent single SPME fiber collection
was carried out slightly further northward
approaching the Garrison X High Street
intersection (i.e. in a parking lot adjacent to
the Schoolhouse Apartments). This second downwind
collection was carried out during the approximate
timeframe 1121 hrs to 1136 hrs. The weather
conditions during these sampling sessions were
approximately as follows: (1) wind @ 9 to 12 mph
and quite variable; ranging approximately from
ENE to ESE. Other associated weather data
included: (2) temperature range @ 51 to 55 deg F;
(2) dew point @ 27 deg F; (3) relative humidity @
37% and (4) barometric pressure @ 30.4 inches.
• It is
noteworthy, with respect to these two downwind
locations, that there was a relatively clear and
definable differentiation of the odor character
detectable between the two during the sampling
timeframe. The more northward location near High
Street clearly matching the
‘sulfurous’, ‘papermill’ and
‘burnt’ odor defined as
‘characteristic’ during the previous
day’s Java Street, Kellogg Lake, Vine X
Eldorado and Lincoln X 3rd Street events. The
more southward location at Eldorado was
alternately describable as ‘poultry
house’ and ‘landfill’ /
‘Dumpster’ primarily; interspersed with
very brief and very transient
‘characteristic’ events (i.e pointing
out the continuing variable nature of the winds
at the time of sampling). The clear and definable
lateral odor stratification between these two
locations (i.e separated by only @ 200 yards) was
one of the most surprising observations
encountered during the 3.5 day on-site Bottoms
Area odor assessment phase.
• At the
completion of these two downwind sampling
sessions, an upwind reference collection was
carried out at the same Vine X Eldorado location
which was used for the previous day’s
downwind series. This session was a single SPME
collection made in the approximate timeframe of
1205 hrs to 1230 hrs. The weather conditions
during this sampling session were approximately
as follows: (1) wind @ 9 mph and still variable;
ranging approximately from E to ESE. Other
associated weather data included: (2) temperature
range @ 55 to 56 deg F; (2) dew point @ 24 deg F;
(3) relative humidity @ 33% and (4) barometric
pressure @ 30.3 inches. The most obvious
difference between the upwind and downwind
sampling sessions was the complete absence of
either the transient, ‘characteristic’
odor noted for the Garrison X High Street
location or the ‘poultry house’ and
‘landfill’ / ‘Dumpster’
character noted for the Garrison X Eldorado
location in the preceding upwind sessions. ...
Completion of this session essentially completed
the on-site assessment phase of the Carthage
Bottoms Area project and initiated our shut-down
and return home to begin the analytical phase of
the project.
Regards
Donald Wright
Consultant /
Manager
Don Wright &
Associates, LLC"
on behalf of
Microanalytics (a MOCON Company)"
The report in its
entirety is 23 pages long and contains much more
information, including aromagrams and
chromatograms of the daily odor sample
information. It is available in a PDF format on
the internet at
http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/apcp/index.html where
there is a link for the "Odor Evaluation of
Carthage Industrial Bottoms" file.
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