Ambient air quality is a complex issue that depends on multiple interacting factors related to emissions coming from energy production and use, transportation, industrial processes, agriculture, and waste and wastewater treatment sectors. It is also impacted by adverse meteorological conditions, pollutants concentrations, their transport and dispersion in the atmosphere, and topographic constraints. Therefore, air pollutants distribution is not uniform and their monitoring at proper temporal and spatial resolution is necessary. Drone-borne analytical instrumentation can fulfill these requirements. Thanks to the rapid development in the drone manufacturing sector as well as in the field of portable detectors construction, applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for atmospheric pollution monitoring are growing. The purpose of this work is to give an overview of this matter. Therefore, this paper contains basic information on UAVs (i.e., description of different types of drones with their advantages and disadvantages) and analytical instrumentation (i.e., low-cost gas sensors, multi-sensor systems, electronic noses, high-accuracy optical analyzers, optical particle counters, radiation detectors) used for the monitoring of airborne pollution. Different ways of payload integration are addressed and examples of commercially available solutions are given. Examples of applications of drone-borne analytical systems for pollution monitoring coming from natural (i.e., volcanoes, thawing permafrost, wildfires) and anthropological (i.e., urbanization and industrialization; extraction, transport and storage of fossil fuels; exploitation of radioactive materials; waste and wastewater treatment; agriculture) sources are also described. Finally, the current limitations and future perspectives are discussed. Although there is a great potential for drones applications in the field of atmospheric pollution monitoring, several limitations should be addressed in the coming years. Future research should focus on improving performances of available analytical instrumentation and solving problems related to insufficient payload capacity and limited flight time of commonly used drones. We predict that applications of drone-assisted measurements will grow in the following years, especially in the field of odor pollution monitoring.

Waste management plants are one of the most important sources of odorants that may cause odor nuisance. The monitoring of processes involved in the waste treatment and disposal as well as the assessment of odor impact in the vicinity of this type of facilities require two different but complementary approaches: analytical and sensory. The purpose of this work is to present these two approaches. Among sensory techniques dynamic and field olfactometry are considered, whereas analytical methodologies are represented by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), single gas sensors and electronic noses (EN). The latter are the core of this paper and are discussed in details. Since the design of multi-sensor arrays and the development of machine learning algorithms are the most challenging parts of the EN construction a special attention is given to the recent advancements in the sensitive layers development and current challenges in data processing. The review takes also into account relatively new EN systems based on mass spectrometry and flash gas chromatography technologies. Numerous examples of applications of the EN devices to the sensory and analytical measurements in the waste management plants are given in order to summarize efforts of scientists on development of these instruments for constant monitoring of chosen waste treatment processes (composting, anaerobic digestion, biofiltration) and assessment of odor nuisance associated with these facilities.

In our article the ordinary kriging interpolation method was used for a spatial presentation of PM2.5 concentrations. The data used in the research was obtained from the unique PM2.5 measuring system, based on low-cost optical sensors for PM2.5 concentration measurements, working on Wroclaw University of Science and Technology campus area. The data from this system was used as an input for the interpolations that were made for three different days characterized by the highest measured values of PM2.5 – 20.01.2019, 17.02.2019 and 30.03.2019. For each of the selected days, variants with the maximum and minimum PM2.5 values recorded on a given measurement day were presented. In the analyses performed, the ordinary kriging technique and cross-validation, was used as the interpolation and the validation method, respectively. Parameters determining the quality of performed interpolation were Mean Error, Mean Standardized Error, Root Mean Square Error, and Average Standard Error. As the main indicator of quality of interpolation RMSE parameter was used. Analysis of that parameter shows that the higher variability of the data used for interpolation affects its quality. The Root Mean Square Error parameter reached 0.64, 0.94 and 1.71 for the lowest concentrations variants characterized by low spatial variability, and 6.53, 7.51, 11.28 for the highest one, which were characterized by high spatial variability. The obtained results of the research with the use of GIS tools shows that the ordinary kriging method allowed for the correct spatial presentation of the PM2.5 concentration variability in areas not covered by the measurement system.

Waste management faces more and more serious challenges, especially given the growing amount of municipal waste generated in Poland and the resulting environmental impact. One of the significant environmental aspects of waste management is the emission of odorants and odors. Taking into account the odor problem, the majority of municipal waste generated is being collected as mixed waste (62% of municipal waste), which by weight contains approximately 32.7% of kitchen and garden waste. These organic fractions are mainly responsible for the emission of odor and odorants. Those substances can be emitted at every stage: from the waste collection at residential waste bins, through transport, waste storage, and transfer stations, up to various respective treatment facilities, i.e., mechanical-biological waste treatment plants, landfills, or waste incineration plants. The gathered data during the study showed that it is necessary to increase the share of different waste management methods, i.e., recycling, composting, or fermentation processes rather than landfilling to meet all necessary regulations and to fulfill provisions of the waste hierarchy. One of the actions indicated in the legal solutions is expansion, retrofitting, and construction of new sorting plants, anaerobic digestion plants, composting plants, and increase in thermal treatment capacity. Variety of different processes that could emit odors and a diversity of different odor-generating substances released from particular waste management steps should be taken into consideration when building new facilities which are suitable for waste treatment. The overall aim of the work was to characterize and summarize available knowledge about waste management system in Poland and to gather information about odor-generating substances emitted from different waste management steps and facilities, which could be a potential source of information for preparing legal solutions to reduce possible odor nuisance form broadly understood waste management.

Excessive odour emission, and thus the potential effect of unpleasant odours in the form of odour nuisance for residents, is a problem that affects many different waste management facilities. To prevent and reduce odour emissions, it is necessary to define specific clear and strict legal...

Within the research, on the premises of an agricultural plant, the odour concentration was measured, and the odour emission was determined. The obtained values allowed us to analyse the odour distribution using the Polish reference mathematical model for four different scenarios, including (1) all identified emission sources, i.e., point and surface: scenarios 1 and 2, and (2) only point sources, scenario 3 and 4. The values of the comparative level and the frequency of exceedances in scenarios 1 and 3 were based on the Polish draft act on counteracting odour nuisance, while the Dutch guidelines were used for scenarios 2 and 4. Model calculations showed the potential impact of the tested structure on adjacent residential areas, i.e., in scenarios 1 and 2, the permissible value of the frequency of exceedances was exceeded at all points representing residential buildings. The exceedances for scenario 3 and 4 took place in seven out of eight and two out of eight points, respectively. The results indicated that to accurately and reliably assess the odour impact and to determine the measures to prevent and reduce odour emissions, it is necessary to consider all types of emission sources in the facilities potentially causing odour nuisance.