Application of ultrafast gas chromatography to recognize odor nuisance

Potentialities of ultrafast gas chromatography applied to periodical monitoring of odor nuisance originating from a municipal landfill have been examined. The results of investigation on classification of the atmospheric air samples collected in a vicinity of the landfill during winter and summer season have been presented. The investigation was performed using ultrafast gas chromatography of Fast/Flash GC type - HERACLES II by Alpha MOS. Data analysis employed principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant function (LDA) supported with the cross-validation method. About 77% of the atmospheric air samples collected during winter season and ca. 87% of the samples collected during summer season were classified correctly. Based on a classification of the atmospheric air samples around the landfill, it can be observed that the biggest number of correctly classified samples originated from the directions characterized by odor nuisance. It was the NW direction during winter season and NE direction during summer season.