Abstract
The carbonyl compounds in the atmosphere belong to one of the regulatory pollutants for the malodor control designated by the Korean Ministry of Environment(KMOE). In the present study, the emission concentration levels of carbonyl compounds were measured along with a number of criteria odor pollutants from a total of 47 individual companies(June 2004 to January 2005). The results of our study showed that a number of carbonyl compounds(such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, and butyraldehyde) maintained significantly high mean concentrations of 298 to 372 ppb. In contrast, other carbonyl compounds were low enough with the mean valves of 0.54 to 19.1 ppb. It was found that except for such industries as metal production or leather processing, their emissions were generally quite significant. If the measured values were evaluated in terms of malodor intensity, butyraldehyde appeared to be the most significant contributor to the malodor release. According to the measurements made in strong source areas, it can be concluded that several carbonyl compounds(acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, isovaleraldehyde, and valeraldehyde) are useful enough to diagnose malodor release from those source areas. It should also be addressed that a number of carbonyl compounds added newly as the result of malodor control legislation were not sensitive enough to diagnose malodor release from such sources.