Aerial Mapping of Odorous Gases in a Wastewater Treatment Plant Using a Small Drone

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are sources of greenhouse gases, hazardous air pollutants and offensive odors. These emissions can have negative repercussions in around the plant, degrading quality life surrounding neighborhoods, damaging environment, reducing employee’s overall job satisfaction. Current monitoring methodologies based on fixed gas detectors sporadic olfactometric measurements (human panels) do not allow for an accurate spatial representation such emissions. In this paper we use a small drone equipped with array electrochemical metal oxide (MOX) sensors mapping odorous gases mid-sized WWTP. An innovative sampling system two (10 m long) flexible tubes hanging from allowed near-source safe distance negligible influence downwash drone’s propellers. The proposed platform is very convenient hard-to-reach emission sources, as plant’s deodorization chimney, which turned out to be responsible strongest odor geo-localized visualized form two-dimensional (2D) concentration map revealed main hotspots where abatement solutions were needed. A principal component analysis (PCA) multivariate sensor signals suggests that also used trace source certain measurement.