Odor control studies: I. Odor control technology, a review and bibliography. II. Catalytic oxidation of odorous compounds

A comprehensive review of odor control methods, as well as results of an experimental study on catalytic oxidation of pure odorants, are presented in this thesis.;In the second section, experimental results from a study of the catalytic oxidation of twenty-two pure odorants of industrial relevance are presented. The oxidation was carried out in an integral flow reactor with a platinum catalyst. The temperature of oxidation varied from 80°C to 461°C, at a space velocity of 83,481 hr-1. It was found that twenty-one of the twenty-two odorants oxidized successfully with complete or nearly complete odor removal. Wide differences in the ease of oxidation, as indicated by the required preheat temperatures, are noted.;For two of the odorants, propionic acid and amyl alcohol, the experimental data were analyzed to establish the relative importance of mass transfer and kinetic rate steps. It was found that at low temperatures, external mass transfer is relatively unimportant but its importance increased rapidly with temperature. For all the experimental conditions investigated, intraparticle diffusion was estimated to be an important factor in determining the overall rate of oxidation. Low effectiveness factors and high kinetic coefficients were obtained, indicating rather high catalytic activity. It was also established that a high potential for savings in fuel requirements exists in odor control by catalytic oxidation systems.;In the first section, the existing literature on odor control techniques is classified and reviewed. Methods used for odor classification, detection and measurement are presented as the basic background for the evaluation of control methods. Each technique of odor removal is described in terms of its principle of operation, equipment details, and experimental results reported in the literature. Effects of parameters such as flow rates, temperatures and pressure drops on odor removal efficiencies are examined. Comparative results are summarized in tabular fashion for easy reference. Analytical methods used to derive the reported results are also described. Finally, an economic comparison of the control methods for a variety of industrial applications is presented.