Odor Control System Design

Odor Control Design

The most successful odor control designs begin with an odor evaluation which reveals the best odor control technology for the application and establishes the design criteria and project objectives. The following questions need to be answered before a design is initiated and most of these would typically be answered during the odor evaluation:

What is the facility’s current odor impact on community (based on modeling results)?

What are the Owner’s goals and objectives for the project?

Which odor sources need to be controlled?

Which odor causing compounds are present and what are their concentrations?

What are the most efficient, lowest cost means of meeting odor control objectives?

Does the Owner have preferences regarding odor control technology?

Which technology is the most appropriate for each source? What are the design criteria?

How well do existing odor control systems perform and how satisfied is the Owner?

What are the project’s capital and operating budget?

What is the project schedule?

Our Top Services
WEA has the experience of over 750 completed odor control projects and therefore has the knowledge needed to design systems that meet/exceed project goals.

WEA has assisted clients with dozens of failed odor control systems over the past 35 years and has learned what works and what doesn’t work in most situations. This experience is integral to our odor control designs and sets us apart.

Program Organization

WEA assigns a Project Manager (PM) at the beginning of the odor evaluation phase. This same PM takes the project from the evaluation phase to the design phase, to the bidding phase and finally to the construction and startup phase. The Owner’s primary point of contact will almost always be the same PM from project initiation to project completion.

The WEA design process leans heavily on our Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program. WEA designs consists of a number of elements designed to add value. These elements include the following:

  • The program is set up to assure all work is reviewed by a competent associate who will try to look at the project from the Owner’s and Contractor’s perspective. The program is arranged such that a fresh set of eyes will review all information. The Program is organized as follows:
    1. Project Manager (PM), Project Engineer (PE) and other involved parties meet with client to review project goals and objectives, collect relevant project information, discuss project schedule and project budget.
    2. PM develops work plan and assigns work tasks. In most cases, 30%, 60% and 100% complete submittals will be required.
    3. PE prepares submittals for QA/QC review by PM.
    4. PM and PE meet to discuss comments and respond to questions.
    5. PE incorporates QA/QC review comments and resubmits to PM.
    6. PM conducts final review of submittal and forwards to Owner if acceptable.
    7. Owner reviews and provides comments. Meeting is arranged with Owner to review comments if necessary.
    8. Comments are incorporated into future submittals. Process is repeated on all subsequent submittals.

Continuous Improvement Tools:

  • Continuing Education
    1. All WEA PMs and PEs complete at least 30 professional development hours (PDH) every two years.
    2. Efforts are made to be familiar with all emerging odor control technologies, their potential strengths and weaknesses.
    3. Attend odor control specialty conferences
  • Pilot studies
    1. Whenever possible, WEA participates in pilot projects to evaluate odor control technologies to learn more about them and identify limitations.

Design Reviews

  • Design review will be conducted at regular intervals, typically at the 30%, 60% and 100% design stages.
  • Questions that will be asked during PM review process include:
    1. Does the system meet Owner’s goals and objectives?
    2. Is the approach sound? Are there better alternatives?
    3. Have all reasonable alternatives been investigated?
    4. How will this system be constructed?
    5. Do the plans and specifications include enough detail to provide a clear representation of effort required?
    6. Are any components missing or omitted?
    7. Is there an easier, more cost-effective way?
    8. Are the project objectives being met?
    9. Particular importance will be placed on the difficulty of constructing the system and ways to reduce construction costs without sacrificing quality.
    10. How difficult will this system be to operate and maintain? Are instruments needed to reduce O&M costs and improve performance and reliability?

Project Follow-up

  • Upon completion of the project WEA will conduct an internal follow-up on the project to determine the following:
    1. Have the Owner’s goals and objectives have been met and is the Owner satisfied? If not, why?
    2. What improvements can be made to improve quality control?