AIR & WASTE
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
EE-6 ODOR COMMITTEE
ACTIVITIES ARCHIVE
| This section is devoted to the past activities of the EE-6
Odor Committee. Scroll down to view all the information or select one of the following topics: |
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Odor Intensity Reference Chemicals : n-butanol vs. sec-butanol |
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Odor Literature Review Bibliography |
Odor Intensity Reference Chemicals : n-butanol vs. sec-butanol
Background
The following background information is excerpts from a paper by Doug Anderson and
Michael McGinley entitled "2-Butanol as a Replacement Odorant for the n-Butanol
Intensity Referencing Scale" which was presented at the A&WMA "Odors: Indoor
and Environmental Air" Specialty Conference held in Bloomington, Minnesota, 13-15
September 1995.
"The ASTM method E-544 Odor Intensity Referencing Scale is a tool commonly used to
evaluate odors.The method utilizes n-butanol (1-butanol) as the reference odorant for the
scale. Using 1-butanol as a reference odorant has limited the use of the method as
it has had exposure limits placed on it by NIOSH/OSHA, and has been the cause of ill
symptoms expressed by odor panelists..." "...The NIOSH/OSHA exposure
limits have a ceiling value of 50 ppm for 1-butanol..." "Using the ASTM
Method E-544...panelists would be exposed to 1-butanol values above the ceiling
value..." "...After conducting [odor] panels using 1-butanol in the past,
panel members have complained of headache, dizziness, or nausea."
The above referenced paper was conducted with approval by the EE-6 Odor Committee to look
at the use of secondary butanol (2-butanol or sec-butanol) "...as a replacement
odorant for the referencing scale." Sec-butanol is a less toxic substance
according to NIOSH/OSHA standards. The paper's purpose was to match
"...concentrations of 2-butanol at or near the intensities of the 1-butanol reference
scale..." With this data, if the reference odorant were to change, "...the
integrity of the referencing scale [would remain] intact in order for data collected in
the past to remain valid."
EE-6 Actions Taken
24 June 1992 - Kansas City, MO Sam Cha agreed to reconvene and chair a subcommittee to consider substitute odor standard materials to include secondary butanol. The Intensity Reference Study Subcommittee includes: Sam Cha – Chairman |
22 June 1994 - Cincinnati, OH Because of his absence from the June 22nd meeting, Sam Cha, Subcommittee Chair, left a message to advise the EE-6 Committee that his findings regarding n-butanol and the proposed substitute 2-butanol indicate that odor response to n-butanol was linear over the lower concentrations (highest dilutions). In addition, Doug Anderson supplied the committee with a two-page report that included a graph showing a 2-butanol/n-butanol odor response comparison. |
21 June 1995 - San Antonio, TX Sam Cha's preliminary findings show the curves
of n-butanol and sec-butanol to be similar. Doug Anderson and Chuck McGinley have also
been investigating this comparison. Doug (who was absent from the meeting) is scheduled to
present a paper on this subject at the specialty conference in September. |
26 June 1996 - Nashville, TN A motion was made to advise the ASTM E-18 Committee that secondary butanol be recommended as an alternative intensity referencing standard and the D. Anderson paper be added to the ASTM E544 Standard of Practice as a reference. The motion was seconded and passed by the committee in a voice vote. |
10 June 1997 - Toronto, ON, Canada A letter from John Amoore (Olfacto-Labs) regarding his research of this topic (proposed replacement of n-butanol with 2-butanol) was distributed. He volunteered a paper for the next annual meeting that review his data. |
23 June 1999 - St. Louis, MO The EE-6 Committee members present discussed the idea of releasing a "White Paper" from the committee which would promote 2-butanol as an alternative. This paper would include the references to comparison papers and recipe formulas for the reference concentrations. No final decision was made, however, the group agreed to move forward on this issue at the A&WMA 2000 Annual Conference in Salt Lake City. |
ASTM Actions
At the ASTM E-18 Committee meeting in Clearwater, FL on the 22 October 1998, the
E-18 committee held a discussion to determine what to do about the ASTM E544 standard.
A year before this meeting, an ASTM E-18 committee member received a phone call
from a commercial laboratory in California that had received a threat of a lawsuit from
panel members on the grounds that they were exposed to concentrations of n-butanol above
the current OSHA ceiling limit. As a result of this phone call, the ASTM E-18
committee was meeting to discuss whether to withdraw this standard
practice.
There was a great deal of negative reaction to withdrawing this standard practice.
The ASTM E-18 Committee voted to NOT WITHDRAW THE STANDARD PRACTICE.
Instead, they voted to amend the standard with a "health warning" as
Annex 1 to the standard.
As of November 1998, a DRAFT of this Annex health warning had been developed.
In April 1999, the standard was republished with an Annex 1 "Health Warning". This standard is now designated ASTM E544-99.
The ASTM E-18 Committee did not consider sec-butanol, or any other chemical, as an
alternative odorant for this standard.
At the June 2000 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, the EE-6 committee felt this action by
the ASTM committee brought closure to this issue. The members present felt
sufficient data is available for users to select sec-butanol as an alternative if they
wish. Members also noted that anyone using an alternative odorant should collect
comparison data for others to reference in the future.
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page.
Odor/Odour Literature Review Bibliography
An odor bibliography entitled "Acquisition, Review,
and Correlation of Odour Literature for the Air & Waste Management Association EE-6
Odour Committee" was completed by students of The University
of Windsor (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) in August 1996.
The bibliography was developed as a senior year engineering project by students James
Harcus, Jon David Kehoe, Michael Smith, and Jason Warren. This project was completed
under the direction of faculty supervisor Alex G. Gnyp.
The University of Windsor has graciously provided the EE-6 Committee with a downloadable
Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) file for distribution through this web site.
Download the file here:
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University of Windsor Odor Bibliography |
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