Detection of landfill odour using Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM)

Odour is considered as the main environmental pollution agent in Malaysia. Even though the standard permissible level for odour in Malaysia has not been set yet as for air and water, malodour is considered as one of the main polluting agents, since the people has started to be concerned about the malodour. Conventionally, the odour was detected by the olfactometer, which used human as its panel for smell. But the human panels are unable to produce a consistance result, especially for the continous monitoring. In this study, the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) was used as an odour detector. The QCM is basically a mass sensitive device with the ability to measure a very small change on a quartz crystal resonator in real time. This system basically comprises of an array of sensors as well as data acquisition and components analysis. A Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is used to define three distinct regions, according to the time of the samples being taken and hence allow the landfill odour differentiation.