Instrumental odour monitoring: Actions for a new European standard

Odour concentration is measured sensorially, thus needing a human panel, whereas the measurement of odorous compounds is typically based on physical and chemical analysis. Some systems such as electronic noses try to correlate both approaches in order to measure odour instrumentally, which would allow monitoring odour continuously. In the domain of instrumental odour monitoring, e-noses are the main candidates, although a wide range of devices based on different sensing technologies and data processing methods can be used for this purpose. Such devices are already applied in different situations, especially for monitoring of odours in ambient air. However, up to now, there is still neither standardization nor regulatory reference for this technology. In 2015, a European working group (WG41), in the frame of technical comittee CEN/TC264 Air Quality, was established aiming to develop a standard related to instrumental odour monitoring. This paper presents the scope and the general outline of this forthcoming standard.