e-Nose donation to aid air quality management

E-NOSES are the first step in a long-term sharing agreement between Kingdom of the Netherlands, eThekwini Municipality and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to improve local expertise.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the three parties on Tuesday, 17 November to share knowledge and expertise on sustainable industrial development, with the Port of Durban as the starting point.

The five-day ‘House of the Future’ event began the collaboration between South Africa and the Netherlands within the agri-food horticulture, energy, logistics, water and health sectors.

Air quality management is the first focus of the partnership, with the Netherlands donating new air monitoring instruments, or ‘e-Noses’ to the municipality and TNPA.

“The Kingdom of the Netherlands has the Port of Rotterdam which is the largest port in Europe. Our city has the largest port in Africa and the signing of this MOU will help us learn from them about best practices on the sustainable industrial development of our port, especially in matters relating to air quality management,” said eThekwini municipality speaker, Logie Naidoo.

An e-Nose detects changes in the air composition, allowing the environmental health department to inspect the cause of problems starting at the site of the e-Nose.

“We are using these e-Noses for a trial run with the aim of making an important contribution to a healthy, safe and attractive port environment. The e-Nose is going to complement the existing city’s air quality monitoring network,” said Naidoo.

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