A Custom Data Processor for More Detailed Evaluations of Odor and Risk. J. G. Tell, and K. C. Silverman, Merck & Co., Inc.
A custom data processor was created to further enhance the analytical capabilities of air dispersion modeling. Currently, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Industrial Source Complex (ISCST3) air dispersion model is limited in that model output currently returns only the maximum 50 values regardless of receptor location or time of occurrence. Other data post-processors are available that expand this capability by generating percentiles of concentration or tabulating the mean concentration at specific receptor locations. However, these utilities are lacking in that distributions of concentration at specific receptor locations cannot be easily generated or evaluated. For a complete assessment of risk to individual receptors or an evaluation of the number of times an odor incidence is likely to occur, such a post-processor is needed. Therefore, a custom post-processor was developed in house, using Microsoft Visual Basic 6 (VB6), that captures all receptor-specific data for comparison to a threshold (i.e, odor threshold or risk-based concentration), to evaluate the number of times an odor incidence is likely to occur and to generate a distribution of concentration at each specific location. The output from the post-processor can be imported into a Geographic Information System to expand this capability and enhance the visualization of the data. A case study using this enhanced capability is also presented using a site-specific air impact risk evaluation from an industrial facility.
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