Odor Impact of Municipal Waste Biogas Plants—Statistical Analysis of Annual Results

The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated worldwide is constantly growing. In many countries, anaerobic digestion (AD) is the recommended process for converting organic waste, playing a crucial role in the transition to a circular economy. Capturing and using biogas helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper summarizes the results of comprehensive studies conducted at three municipal waste biogas plants (MWBPs) located in Poland. These studies include measurements related to concentrations of odor (cod) and odorants (C) as well as microclimate parameters. We statistically analyzed the research obtained. However, the microclimatic parameters were not used in a final PCA model and were only used in exploratory correlation. Principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the methods of statistical factor analysis, which allows for the organization of a large set of data from three objects from the annual study. The use of PCA allowed us to determine which substance at a specific biogas plant is primarily responsible for odor nuisance and to estimate the percentage of variability contained in the first two principal components. The obtained results clearly indicate the influence of the technological regime and the type of fermentation feed on the determining effect of a specific odorant. In connection with the vision of creating new MWBPs that are consistent with circular economy assumptions, it seems advisable to extend the conducted analysis to include an immission study outside the plant boundaries. This study could play a crucial role in public consultations and serve as a tool for minimizing odor nuisance.