The new Olfactometry Laboratory of the CIRIAF/CRB - University of Perugia: description of the equipments, start-up phase and first training and measurements

The CIRIAF/CRB - University of Perugia has recently started-up the first Dynamic Olfactometry Laboratory in the central Italy in order to conduct analyses and measurements of odours according to the UNI EN 13725: 2004 and also to develop academic research projects in this field. The dynamic olfactometry is an international standardized method which allows to measure the odour level. Measures are conducted with a group of qualified panelists (human receptors) by varying sample gas dilution. Considering the regional and national context, the investigation of the odour emissions from agro-industrial activities is a field of study with no precise rules but only some guidelines. This is related to the nature of the odour emissions that are not-releasable in advance from the subjective perception of the phenomenon. However, in the last years, a growing interest on this subject is caused by problems of social acceptability of energy plants handling and processing some stored organic materials (e.g. new biogas plants, landfills, farms, distilleries, etc.). The new CIRIAF/CRB Lab is equipped, further to the olfactometry facilities, with a new conditioning system ensuring the control of the main parameters for the indoor air quality inside the olfactometry chamber (e.g. pressure, temperature, air fluxes and carbon dioxide levels) and with a lighting system allowing the variation of the light colour inside the olfactometry test room.