Odour Laboratory Analysis

Emissions and Environmental Odour Testing

The Pinchin odour lab was established in 2000 to meet client needs in environmental odour analysis. Beginning with clients in Southern Ontario, the lab now has a Canadian client base stretching from New Brunswick to British Columbia, as well as clients in the United States and Great Britain.

Pinchin’s odour laboratory and Head Office is conveniently located in Mississauga near Pearson International Airport. The lab and panelist staging rooms are dedicated odour free zones supplied by a filtered air supply and kept under positive pressure to improve ventilation and minimize ambient odour infiltration.

Odour Analysis

Pinchin’s analytical methods begin with determining the detection threshold (DT, sometimes called OTV) of an odour sample. Panelists are presented with a diluted odourous sample and two “blank” samples and are asked to determine at what concentration a difference between odourous and blank samples can be detected. This information is used to design odour control strategies for industry, and in assessing potential adverse effects by regulators.

Subsequent analysis can include determination of a recognition threshold, which is the concentration at which an odour can be described by trained panelists. Additional qualitative data, including odour descriptors, intensity, and degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness can also be collected, although these parameters do not currently have a regulatory basis in Canada.

Quality Control

Odour panels conducted at Pinchin follow the olfactometry standards published by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN).

To monitor assessor sensitivity, Pinchin follows the European Standard EN 13725:2003 “Air quality – Determination of odour concentration by dynamic olfactometry”, which specifies a sensitivity range much smaller than the normal population to ensure constant results from sample to sample, and from day to day. This is above and beyond the quality control practices required by the Province of Ontario outlined in the Ontario Source Testing Code (June 2010). An AC’SCENT® International triangular forced-choice, ascending concentration, dynamic dilution olfactometer is used with a panel of 8 trained assessors.

On-site analysis and ambient odour analysis is available

Our Chain of Custody Record for Odour Samples Form is required with all samples.