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When Odours Control Becomes Safety Solution

For those in the water sector the control of odours is not only an issue of public nuisance but is now also recognised as an important health and safety consideration. With significantly enhanced health and safety regulations and an increasingly litigious public, this is an area of odour control that has significant consequences. One UK business has developed a solution to these issues that many are describing as ‘groundbreaking’,

Probe Industries is leading the field in this area and a recent installation of its new odour control solution, ProActive, is seen as an important step in tackling both the nuisance and safety implications of malodours.

Following a successful trial earlier this year, Probe Industries ProActive was installed in a large waste water treatment works that served a population equivalent of 1.5 million.

The challenges of this installation were considerable. Hydrogen sulphide levels around the Aquabelt of the dewatering building frequently rose to 60ppm yet to achieve a safe working environment, levels had to be below 3.6ppm. The works needed to install fixed monitors and the operators had their own personal monitors to detect hydrogen sulphide. Alarms were frequently set off as the hydrogen sulphide levels exceeded safe limits. Maintenance of equipment was also restricted because of the hydrogen sulphide levels within the dewatering building.

Bob Fowler, Probe Industries’ Technical Advisor for Sludge Treatment, remained confident, “We robustly tested ProActive over a long period of time and the results we were achieving were often staggering – I was confident even at these high levels we could meet the challenge”,

The installation of a demonstration kit appeared to justify Bob’s confidence. The demonstration kit on one of the Aquabelt dewatering streams immediately eliminated all measurable hydrogen sulphide emissions from the Aquabelt process. In fact the results were so impressive the operating company immediately ordered the installation of a full scale Probe ProActive dosing plant for all 5 Aquabelt presses. To further add to the challenge the operating company wanted the dosing plant to be fully operational within 10 working days.

Once the installation was complete, ProActive was found to have eliminated not only hydrogen sulphide but also the ‘cabbage smelling’ mercaptans and dimethylsulphide which remain if sludge is dosed with permanganate. The results radically changed the working environment, reducing costly delays in maintenance and improving the health and safety of the workforce.

The sludge treatment team leader highlighted the impact of this new product ‘Now that we do not have the hydrogen sulphide monitors constantly alarming, my operators can get on with their job of keeping the equipment clean, fully operational and dewatering sludge’.

Evidence of the impact of this process was also seen in a less conventional way. Phil Rutherford, Managing Director of Probe explains, “During a site visit one sludge plant operator showed me a silver chain which he wore around his neck. He said that he could not wear this chain prior to ProActive dosing because the silver went black after a single shift, now he wears his chain all week without any discolouration”.