Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Livestock Nutrient Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #428363
Research Project: Strategies to Manage Feed Nutrients, Reduce Gas Emissions, and Promote Soil Health for Beef and Dairy Cattle Production Systems of the Southern Great Plains

Location: Livestock Nutrient Management Research

Title: Development of a new ASTM Standard for environmental odor assessment: Fall 2025 update

Author
item Koziel, Jacek
item WRIGHT, DONALD - Don Wright & Associates
item THAXTON, KURT - Gerstel

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/2025
Publication Date: 11/12/2025
Citation: Koziel, J.A., Wright, D., Thaxton, K. 2025. Development of a new ASTM Standard for environmental odor assessment: Fall 2025 update [abstract]. 24hr Marathon on Odor Management.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: An analytical, odorant prioritization approach to environmental odor problem solving is the basis for ongoing efforts within the ASTM D-22.05 (Air Quality / Indoor Air) Subcommittee to develop a New Standard Practice. A status update for the WK72782 Workgroup’s efforts to finalize this Practice development effort was reported at the 2025 AWMA Air Quality Measurement Methods and Technology Conference in Aurora, Colorado. Approaching final review and 4th round re-ballot, the final-form title of this proposed Practice is: Environmental Odor Screening for Single, Character-Defining Odorants; Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Olfactometry (GC-MS-O) Analysis and On-Instrument Odor-Matching Confirmation. Historically, environmental odor issues have been assumed to be inherently complex with respect to chemical composition. In reality, environmental odor issues are often driven by relatively small subsets of odorants from otherwise complex source emissions; in extreme cases, driven by single ‘character-defining’ odorants. This new Practice serves as a preliminary screening tool to quickly identify / resolve those cases reflecting such relative odor compositional simplicity. In that regard the New Practice can be regarded as the Phase I, ‘simplest form’ of a multi-phase odor investigative strategy development within the ASTM D22.05 Subcommittee. For those cases which fail to yield such single, ‘character-defining’, priority-odorant relationships, expansion sampling and analytical strategies may be required for revealing the priority-subset of odorants bearing primary responsibility for a targeted odor. To address this required expansion-of-scope the ASTM D22.05 Subcommittee has commissioned the development of a follow-on Phase II New Standard Practice development; reflected in the following title proposal: Environmental Odor Screening for Complex, Character-Impacting Odorant Subsets; Integrating ASTM (WK72782) with Thermal Desorption (TD) Air Sampling, Multi-Dimensional-Gas-Chromatography-Olfactometry (MDGC-O) Analysis and Multi-Component, Synthetic Odor-Matching Validation. The authors will present a status update regarding both of these efforts to develop these New Practices.