Program for Surveying and Abating
the Odor Nuisance from a
Processing Plant
J. F. BYRD
Pollution Control Engineer
Procter and Gamble Company
Cincinnati, Ohio
The atmospheric pollution problems of Procter and Gamble are
not believed to be health hazards. However, if allowed to get out of
hand they can get extremely irksome to near neighbors. The problems
have been approached with the idea in mind of remaining in good
standing in the community and avoiding being a nuisance to the neighbors who, incidentally, may be employees.
Procter and Gamble, along with other industries, has become aware
of atmospheric pollution problems in recent years. In newer installations
there are generally no problems with air pollution since it is now an
integral part of any construction program to design into the process
methods of pollution control. In most instances concern has been chiefly
with problems in existing installations which have been designed and
built before atmospheric pollution had become such an important consideration or before a community had built up adjacent to a plant.
Generally the chief pollutant is the rather nebulous thing called
odor. Particulate matter has never been one of the major problems.
Dust collection is an older art and has not been a particular problem in
handling gaseous discharges. In addition the value of the product has
in some cases been an incentive to practice recovery. Considerable attention has been given to dust control within the factory confines as an
aid to employee comfort and well-being. These dusts have not contributed much atmospheric pollution outside of the buildings. On the
other hand the odor control problems have presented a real challenge.
This paper will, therefore, generally cover the work of the Procter
and Gamble Company in reducing the quantities of odor emanating
from processing plants. First of all, a description will be given of the
method of quantitative measurements used to determine the magnitude
of the problem. An actual survey or "audit" of the emissions from the
entire plant will be discussed.  Next the methods of controlling and
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