NEWS
News
2007 Sept. Les 3 laboratoires d’analyses olfactométriques du groupe Odournet ont démontré respecter les critères de performance imposés dans la norme EN 13725 au cours de la dernière comparaison internationale interlaboratoires pour l’olfactométrie organisée par Olfactec (Allemagne) en 2007. Sur les 71 laboratoires participants, 29 ont choisi de réaliser le test « RV-plus » qui permet de vérifier la conformité du laboratoire au regard de la norme européenne EN 13725. Seuls 12 laboratoires ont démontré respecter les critères de répétabilité et exactitude. Odournet est donc très fier de pouvoir annoncer que ses 3 laboratoires font partie du groupe des 12.
Le critère de la norme EN 13725 pour la limite de répétabilité est r < 0,477 ; le critère pour l’exactitude est A < 0,217. Les valeurs déterminées pour les laboratoires Odournet sont :
- PRA Odournet (Amsterdam), lab 68 dans le rapport : r = 0,193 et A = 0,155
- Odournet UK (Bradford on Avon), lab 52 dans le rapport : r = 0,301 et A = 0,088
- Aroma Consult (Rennes, France), lab 54 dans le rapport : r = 0,302 et A = 0,073
Pour les Clients de Odournet, cela implique que l’incertitude sur les résultats est bien inférieure aux valeurs imposées par la norme EN 13725. Pour de plus amples informations sur les implications de ces résultats, vous pouvez contacter le coordinateur qualité du groupe Odournet : Anouk Snik par mail asnik@odournet.com. Vous pouvez aussi contacter le coordinateur du laboratoire de votre choix : Lucy Cope (UK) à lcope@odournet.com ou Sylvia Derien (France) à sderien@aromaconsult.fr.
2007 Sept. Le Département Environnement de l’Agglomération de Barcelone a confié à Odournet le contrat pour établir une carte de l’impact olfactif du quartier de Barcelone Diagonal Mar / Forum area. L’objectif est de déterminer à quelle fréquence sont perçues les odeurs en provenance de la station d’épuration de Besos ou d’autres sources d’odeurs présentes sur le secteur, en utilisant la norme VDI/DIN3940 (mesure de l’exposition aux odeurs avec jurys terrain). Les mesures seront réalisées sur une année complète et commenceront en octobre 2007. Le résultat sera une carte des odeurs représentant le niveau d’impact mesuré sur le secteur.
2007 Jan 8 Odournet holds its regular general Odournet Group general staff meeting at the end of January at the Vall de Nuria mountain resort in the Catalan Pyrenees.
2006 Dec 10 AROMA Consult is the new joint venture between Sodae, laboratory for environmental analyses, and Odournet, specialised in odour management and impact assessment. Aroma Consult will build on the existing client base of Sodae and its parent company, Groupe Merlin. Primarily AROMA Consult will provide an analytical services, including odour concentration measurements according to European olfactometry standard EN13725. A completely new state of the art odour laboratory was installed at the Sodae premises in Rennes, Bretagne, which increases the capacity of the AROMA laboratory to over 20 analyses a day. By joining the capabilities of Sodae and Odournet, AROMA Consult, managed by Maxime Claudot, will be able to add the full range of consultancy on environmental odours of the Odournet Group to the services currently provided to the French market. For more information and analytical services, contact Sylvia Derien: sderien@odournet.com
2006 Dec 6 The CEN working group on odour assessment using field panels, CEN/TC264/WG27 had its first meeting at the Haus der Technik VDI headquarters in Düsseldorf. Odournet consultants Ton van Harreveld (Netherlands representation) and Toon van Elst (Belgium representation) will participate in the standardisation process.
2006 Dec 1 Walter Murguia will be shareholder and director of the new Odournet joint venture Odournet México S.A. de C.V. in Monterrey, México. The company will target the emerging market for consultancy on air quality, air pollutant dispersion studies, impact assessment of environmental odours and their management. The new branch will also play a key role in providing odour consultancy services throughout Latin America.
2006 Nov 4 Odournet S.L. of Barcelona was contracted by the Department of the Environment of the Catalan regional government to prepare three sectorial guidance documents aimed at organic waste management, livestock rearing and wastewater treatment. The documents aim to provide specific guidance to companies within those sectors operating in Cataluña on how to manage their odour impacts. The guidance documents are expected to become available during the spring of 2007.
2006 Feb 28 The entity responsible for waste management in Barcelona has awarded OdourNet with the contract to conduct a long term odour impact study around the domestic waste processing facility Ecoparc2, in Montcada i Reixac near Barcelona. The field assessments will be conducted according to the German standard VDI/DIN3940 for a duration of approx. 8 months. The 'raster panel' observations will be combined with source-out medelling to link the results of these two assessment methods.
2005 Nov 01 OdourNet adopts Aya, a female Tapir in Artis Zoo, Amsterdam. PRA OdourNet is very pleased to broaden our consultancy arrangements on air quality with Artis and contribute to its core business. We welcome the opportunity to adopt a suitably nosey female Tapirus indicus at Artis and hope she will do well. For a picture of the Artis tapirs, click here.
2005 Oct 27 Hedonic tone standard NVN2818 published. The Dutch standards institute published the standard NVN2818 Air quality – Determination of hedonic value using olfactometry. These measurements are carried out to establish differences in the nuisance potential of specific odours. In the Netherlands, the results are used to derive sector or site specific odour exposure criteria. The OdourNet olfactometry laboratory in Amsterdam routinely performs these measurements and has recently been audited with the aim of including hedonic tone in its accreditation scope under ISO17025.
2005 Oct 15 The Barcelona branch of OdourNet is pleased to have won a contract to support the environmental department (Departament de Medi Ambient) of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan region government. OdourNet will provide sampling and odour analysis services, as well as odour impact modelling, in support of the introduction of a structured approach to managing odour impacts in Catalunya.
2005 Oct 14 A job opportunity is open to an odour consultant at the Amsterdam office. OdourNet is looking to expand its team of consultants, and is looking for an air pollution specialist who wants to develop into a senior consultant specialized in odour management. See job description.
2005 Ago 11 The report of the June 2005 Interlaboratory Comparison is now available. The test, organized by Olfatec, Germany, shows shows that many of the many participating laboratories fall short of attaining the quality required by the European EN13725 standard. 10 laboratories from 8 countries participated in the expanded RV-Plus test that allowed statistical evaluation of results on n-butanol reference material. Only two laboratories fully complied, and OdourNet is pleased that the laboratory of PRA OdourNet BV in Amsterdam, participant 56, was one of them. The UK laboratory complied on Accuracy only. The standard test, which only included 4 samples, attracted 46 participating laboratories. Only 17 of those produced results within the limits applied for the test. Both accredited OdourNet laboratories produced correct results for all four samples. The test reports are available upon request.
2005 July 01 The University of Milan commissions an Olfaktomat olfactometer. The new instrument, which can perform 4 measurements an hour with 6 panel members working simultaneously, will be installed at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Facultà di Medicina Veterinaria. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Veterinarie per la Sicurezza Alimentare . The contact for the laboratory is: Drssa Marcella Guarino.
2005 Jun 01 Our Gent, Belgium, branch will from now on be known as PRG OdourNet NV. The name of the company was officially changed to highlight that it belongs to the OdourNet group of companies. All other details of the company, previously called Project Research Gent NV, will not be affected by the name change.
2005 March 16 to 18 OdourNet celebrates its ON group meeting in the mountains near Barcelona. The meeting is an opportunity for the many new staff members that have joined the companies to meet their counterparts in person. If you need OdourNet services urgently, please let us know before that date!
2004 Dec 09 Lectures from the international conference on Management of Environmental Odours are now available online as Powerpoint presentations until 15th January, 2005.
2004 Nov 19 The international conference on Management of Environmental Odours, which was held in Cologne, Germany, turned out to be a successful and fascinating meeting of more than 190 odour specialists from 28 countries. During two and a half days the programme was an intensive display of ideas, approaches, techniques and practical experiences. OdourNet director Ton van Harreveld would like to thank all who contributed, especially speakers, program committee members and the VDI staff for making this a few intensive but fascinating days! The 594 pages of proceedings will be available on sale in English as ‘VDI Berichte 1850, ISBN 3-18-091850-0 from VDI Verlag, www.vdi.de
2004 Nov 16 OdourNet have assisted Thames Water in gaining a 2 year extension to the time allowed to achieve compliance to an abatement notice served on Mogden STW by the London Borough of Houndslow. The judgement to extend the notice was a result of a 7 day hearing at Feltham Magistrates Court at the beginning of September 2004.
2004 Nov 01 OdourNet is delighted that its Amsterdam office, PRA OdourNet BV, obtained an ISO9001 accreditation for its consultancy operations. This adds to the existing ISO17025 accreditation for the odour laboratory. Lloyds carried out the audits on November 1 st, 2004, with a new accreditation certificate as a result.
2004 October The annual audit of the quality system of the Amsterdam Olfaktolab was concluded with positive results. Our K077 calibration and L403 testing accreditations are continued as recognising the steady commitment to maintaining a high level of quality.
2004 Oct 05 Two US scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for uncovering the secrets of the sense of smell. Richard Axel, 58, of the Howard Hughes medical institute at Columbia University, New York, and Linda Buck, 57, now of the Fred Hutchinson cancer research centre in Seattle, Washington, in 1991 discovered a family of 1,000 genes that order the proteins that are linked with specific smells.view article
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004 July 27 The
programme for the Second National Conference of the Chartered
Institution of Water and Environmental Management(CIWEM) has
recently been published. The three day conference runs from
the 13th to 15th September 2004 at Bretton Hall, Wakefield in
the UK and covers a wide range of environmental issues.
2004
July 22 OdourNet
has job opportunities for air quality consultants to become
specialists in environmental odour management. Dutch
language skills are essential in our Amsterdam office. OdourNet
offers an informal yet challenging working environment where
you will feel at home if your aim is to deliver quality and
bring innovative solutions to the environmental market place. See more.
2004 July 01 DGMR acoustical engineers and OdourNet Holding BV and have agreed to create a joint venture, Acustinet Ambiente S.L., that will provide acoustic consultancy for the Spanish market. The recent introduction of noise legislation in Spain , in November 2004, is expected to create strong demand for the specialised noise modelling and measurement services that DGMR provides. The strong technical capabilities and expertise of DGMR's team of close to 100 consultants will be the frame of reference for a team of Spanish consultants, which will work from the joint OdourNet/Acustinet office in Barcelona . Walter Murguia will be the commercial director of Acustinet, which has opened for business in July 2004. For further information, consult the Spanish language website www.acustinet.com
2004 July 01 Odournet introduces a new corporate style, emphasizing its link with Acustinet. The new logos were designed by Jaap Bollee, of Coma Prima, Amsterdam , and will be introduced throughout the Odournet group during the summer of 2004. The well known nose drawing by Amsterdam artist Bill Bodewes will continue to feature in Odournet visuals, but take a slightly more modest place in the company image.
2004 June 18 The preliminary programme
for the VDI conference ‘Odour Management’, Cologne,
November 17-19, is now available on the vdi webpage.
On this site you can also register
to participate in this conference. It is advisable to register
early, to ensure access to this conference that is expected
to be booked to capacity.
2004 June 16 PRA OdourNet BV in Amsterdam
signed an agreement with Lloyd’s to audit the ISO9001
quality management system that is now being introduced throughout
the company.
The ISO9001 accreditation will cover all activities
as far as these are not covered by the existing accreditation
number L403 of the laboratory under ISO17025, granted by the
Council for Accreditation. The ISO9001 audit is planned for
completion in the autumn of 2004.
2004 April 4 All Dutch laboratories
will from now on perform odour concentration measurements
in accordance with the new European Standard, EN 13725,
which was introduced in the Netherlands in September 2003.
The European standard will replace the Dutch standard, NVN
2820:1995. Reporting will be done in European odour units
(ouE/m3). Detailed information on this transition will be
available shortly. Please consult the website
of the Dutch Council for Accreditation, for the official
press release.
2004 February 24 The results
of the Dutch interlaboratory comparison, held in October 2003,
have been reported (first draft). PRA OdourNet’s
laboratory participated in the comparison, with the three
other accredited Dutch odour laboratories. The tests included
twelve samples of n-butanol in clean air at four different
concentration levels and three samples of an environmental
odour. The results show that the performance of the PRA Olfaktolab
was well within limits for acceptable performance for the
n-butanol samples. Due to the small number of environmental
samples results of these samples were of little value. A next
interlaboratory comparison will be held in the second half
of this year, for which all laboratories, national and international,
are invited to join. More information will be available shortly.
2004 January 31 OdourNet UK
Ltd gets the green light from UKAS and its odour laboratory is
now accredited under ISO17025. For details contact Lucy Cope, telephone
+44 1225 868869
2003 October 30 Tokyo - OdourNet
presents paper at international odour conference in Tokyo,
organised by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and
the Japanese Association for Olfactometry. The one-day conference
discusses the history of odour management in Japan, Europe
and the United States. A comparison of the Japanese
Triangle Bag Method and the EN13725 method, using an OdourNet
olfaktomat olfactometer at the Tokyo Metropolitan Research
Institute for Environmental Protection demonstrates a remarkable
reproducibility of results obtained for reference odorants
and odorant mixtures. The papers are published in a document
titled Odour
Measurement Review, that is available via internet.
2003 August 3 Update of the NeR emission guideline published in
The Netherlands.
A new version of the NeR emissions guideline (in Dutch) has
been published by InfoMil. It contains some modifications
and a chapter on the relation between the NeR and IPPC BREF
documents. The NeR will be made available in a web version
in 2004, on www.infomil.com
2003 July 24 Amsterdam – PRA OdourNet laboratory ISO17025
accreditation scope K077 now includes ISO 6143 certification
of reference gases n-butanol and SF6 in nitrogen, as well
as instrumental calibration of dilution devices under EN13725.
The accreditation scope was expanded to enable the lab to
certify traceability of reference materials used in its operations,
through comparison with a certified reference material. The
technique will initially be used for internal standards, but
in the near future the certification may be offered as a service
to clients.
2003 May 27 Amsterdam - OdourNet laboratory scope ISO17025 accreditation
scope for olfactometry now under testing accreditation L403.
As a result of Council for Accreditation policy, the olfactometry
activities are taken out of the calibration scope K077 and
brought under a separate scope under number L403. The actual
practice and quality management will remain unchanged by this
modification.
2003 April 24 NEN initiates hedonic tone standard NVN2818 working
group.
Frans Vossen of PRA OdourNet joins a technical working group
that has been formed to prepare a Netherlands Pre-Standard,
NVN2818, for measurement of hedonic tone of odour samples.
2003 April 16 European olfactometry standard EN13725 approved and
published.
The vote among CEN members on EN13725 ‘Air Quality -
Odour concentration using dynamic olfactometry’ was
cast in November 2002. The standard was accepted with 18 of
the 19 votes cast by CEN members in favour and one abstention
(Switzerland). The EN13725:2003 standard has been issued in
April 2003 and it replaces national standards, including NVN2820,
VDI3881 etc. The EN13725:2003 standard is currently available
via national standardisation organisations, in three languages
English (NEN,
BSI, IEMA),
French: Qualité de l'air - Détermination de
la concentration d'une odeur par olfactométrie dynamique
(AFNOR)
and German (Beuth
Verlag)
2002 December 22 UK - DEFRA consultation document entitled “Consultation on proposals for the statutory control
of odour & other nuisance from sewage treatment works” (DEFRA
2002) puts forward four regulatory alternatives for controlling
odour nuisance from wastewater treatment.
2002 November United Kingdom – Environment agency publishes H4
horizontal guidance for odours in IPPC Part 1 and Part 2 , available from the web, that was issued for consultation
by the Environment Agency towards the end of 2002, aims to
bring consistency to the overall approach of the regulation
of odorous emissions by the Agency under the Integrated Pollution
Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000.
The results of the consultation process, which ended on January
6th 2003, have been delayed, but are likely to be published
in late 2003. OdourNet provided some of the underpinning to
the EA guidance, which commissioned Assessment of community
response to odorous emissions Reference Number P4-095/TR,
which can be obtained in hardcopy only, at a price of 23 UK
pounds, from here.
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