OdoWatch system

11 electronic noses, OdoWatch® dispersion modelling software, weather tower

Background Information

The island of Montreal has almost 2 million people and a population density of 9,391 inhabitants/m². The City of Montreal’s Wastewater Treatment Plant intercepts and treats all the wastewater generated on the island, which is almost half of the volume generated in the Province of Quebec. In addition, the Plant also treats the waste snow and industrial wastewater. The average flow rate received at the facility is approximately 660 million US gals/day. With a capacity of 2 billion US gals/day, it is the largest primary physicochemical treatment plant in the Americas. Construction costs for wastewater treatment works, including the interceptor network, totalled $1 billion, $600 million of which were invested in the construction of the Plant.

Odotech Assignment

Odotech was granted a contract to supply and install an OdoWatch® system consisting of 11 e-noses placed at various locations within the Plant, taking into account the site topography, the direction of prevailing winds and other factors. Phase 1, consisting of 4 e-noses, was deployed in 2003. After validation of Phase 1, 7 additional e-noses were installed in the summer of 2005.

Principal Outcome

The e-noses were trained to identify 10 odors including those from the intake gates, pumping station discharge channels, residuals from the screening process, aerated grit chambers, clarifiers, sludge treatment building, filter presses, incinerator, cake drying units, and the biofilter.

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