Evaluation of INPUFF-2 model for predicting downwind odors from animal production facilities

This article presents data evaluating an air dispersion model, INPUFF-2, in predicting downwind odors from animal production facilities. According to the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, the model is able to predict the downwind odor levels at distances of 100, 200, and 300 m from odor sources with confidence of 95%, 92%, and 81%, respectively. At farther distances, such as 400 and 500 m, the accuracy of prediction by the model is significantly reduced. This reduction could be due to the reduction in the nasal sensitivity of human sniffers for low levels of odors at such distances, which increases the errors in differentiation. Further research on methods of evaluating air dispersion models for a long range is needed to determine the performance of models. In addition, it was found that INPUFF-2 model can predict downwind odor concentrations as measured in units of odor threshold from either a single or multiple sources with confidence ranging from 81 to 90% based on the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.