What's that smell?

A new technique that can identify odours could help people avoid hazardous materials when they move into a new home or work environment.

Klaus Breuer taking smell to the detection limits

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) in Holzkirchen, Germany, are using a special method to investigate the composition of the odours from various building materials to provide a risk profile associated with, for instance, that beautiful parquet flooring in the kitchen or the fitted carpets under your new desk.

"It is quite possible that the substances emitted by floor coverings and paints that can be detected by conventional chemical analysis are in fact not responsible for the resulting smells," explains Group Manager Klaus Breuer at the IBP who heads the DM 5million (US $2.4 million) project.

The IBP team has applied gas chromatography and olfactometry to the problem. GC separates the odour components while a human nose is used as the detector. This way it is possible to identify exactly those compounds being released by the new flooring, furniture or wall coverings and armed with this information manufacturers can better judge what components of their products are likely to give off an unwanted smell and justify telling customers there is no health risk.