Journal Abbreviation : ‘J. Odor Indoor Environ.’ Frequency : Quarterly Doi Prefix : 10.15250/joie. ISSN : 2288-9167 (Print) / 2288-923X (Online) Year of Launching : 2014 Publisher : Korean Society of Odor Research and Engineering & Korean Society for Indoor Environment Indexed/Tracked/Covered By :
Odor problems in urban areas have become a common cause of public complaints. In order to gain a betterunderstanding of odor problems, we investigated the emission characteristics of odorants originating from manholes(n=22) and stormwater catch basins (n=48) (SCBs) around Wangsimni station in Seoul. To this end, concentrationsof H2S and NH3 were measured after arbitrarily dividing the whole study area into five different districts. Ourmeasurements were made to allow comparisons between three different criteria: (1) manholes vs. SCBs, (2)temporal variation between morning vs. afternoon, and (3) water content in the sewer system. The averageconcentration of H2S in manholes and SCB were 2.39ppm and 0.81ppm, respectively. In contrast, their NH3counterparts were 1.86ppm and 1.02 ppm, respectively. According to the contouring method made to identifyspatial distribution characteristics, of odorants a relatively lowland site D was expected to work as a significantemission source in light of the transportation patterns of a sewer system. Moreover, higher concentrations ofodorants were prevalent in the afternoon (as the prime time for commercial activities) relative to before noon. Ifconcentration data are converted into odor intensity, H2S was the predominant component exerting controls onthe odor pollution in these underground environments.