Evolution of the perceived odour intensity assessed by GC-Olfactometry of emissions from household and building products

International audience; Real-time monitoring of perceived odour intensity by a sniffing subject allows the construction of an olfactogram associated with a chromatogram. This improves the matching of odorous events with VOC peaks. Analytical resolution, olfactory adaptation, odour persistence, breath frequency, assessor's awareness affect interpretation of the olfactogram. Peak height or peak area can be used to determine the odour intensity of a given odorous compound and thus determine the most odor-active compound. The number of odorous events tends to decrease with the decrease of VOC emission whereas precise identification of odorous compounds tends to improve with time.