Identification and evaluation of volatile odor-active pollutants from different odor emission sources in the food industry

In order to elucidate the nature of different odor-emission sources in the food industry, odor-active pollutants of the exhaust air in the cooling gases from coffee bean roasting, the exhaust air of fish meal production, and the exhaust air of swine breeding were investigated. Knowledge of what pollutants are present in the odor emission and are responsible for the malodor is vital to the development of suitable adsorbers/absorbers and filters, and combinations of the same. Therefore, the objective of these investigations was to identify and evaluate the characteristic impact of compounds in the exhaust air of these odor-emission sources. The volatile compounds were collected by using a microprocessor-controlled gas sampler through sorbent tubes of Tenax TA. The adsorbed compounds were analyzed by thermal desorption into a cryotrap and subsequent gas chromatography separation, followed by simultaneous olfactometry and mass spectrometry. In cooling gases of the coffee bean roasting numerous compounds (up to 100) were identified of which only 22 were important for the characteristic odor. These compounds were aldehydes (2-methyl propanal, 2- and 3-methyl butanal, 2-furancarboxyaldehyde, 5-methyl-2-furancarboxyaldehyde), diketones (2,3-butandione, 2,3-pentandione), pyrazines, pyridine, acetic acid, and furanmethanol. Other compounds with low concentrations but with a very low odor threshold and, therefore, important for the total odor were 3-methyl butanoic acid and guaiacol. Up to 50 compounds were identified in the exhaust air of fish meal production, the most significant of these being trimethylamine. Trimethylamine, with a very low odor threshold (0.0025 μg/l air) and the highest content (up to 60% in the total ion chromatogram, more than 100 μg/l) in the exhaust air of fish meal production, was responsible for the characteristic fishy odor. Beside trimethylamine only a few compounds, e.g., sulfides (dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide), aldehydes (2-methyl propanal, 2- and 3-methyl butanal), ethanol, and guaiacol, played a secondary role for the total odor. In the exhaust air of the pig house up to 50 compounds were identified. Beside ammonia, the most important odor-active compounds were various carboxylic acids (acetic acid, butanoic acid, 3-methyl butanoic acid), sulfides (dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide), trimethylamine, and the intensive odor-active p-cresol and 4-ethylphenol.