Fighting bad odors: Possible answer to Sweet Smell in NYC.

A patent is expected to be released for a new method in battling odor from organic waste.



Could this be responsible for the mysterious sweet smell in New York a month ago?

Suspicious odor in New York City

Perhaps they were testing this new method and something went wrong? The smell in NY has been described as smelling like maple syrup. This new method in odor reduction is using a pleasant-smelling compound. Maybe there was an accident with this compound last month or a test gone wrong? As far as I know the smell in NY is still unsolved. This may explain what happened that day. I will keep on the look out for more related reports on this odor battling method.

[edit on 30/11/2005 by Umbrax]

Maybe some hobo's set fire to a sugar shop

Seriously though it sounds interesting. Do tell us more when you find it.

Her is some info on the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

From www.monell.org

Established in1968 as the world’s first scientific institute for multidisciplinary research on taste, smell and chemosensory irritation. Initial guidance and financial support came from the Ambrose Monell Foundation and from federal and state agencies. Until 1978, Monell was based at the University of Pennsylvania. The two institutions continue to maintain a close relationship.

Situated in the academic heart of Philadelphia’s University City Science Center, 3500 Market Street, bordered by the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and numerous other academic and scientific organizations.

Occupies a 60,000 net square foot building with specialized laboratories, library, conference rooms, animal care facilities, and an aquatic facility for fresh and saltwater species. A Chemosensory Clinical Research Center in Center City Philadelphia is administered in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University.

I just looked at Google Earth and the distance between the facility and Manhattan is about 90 miles. The path crosses right through New Jersey, where many people speculate the smell came from.


Information of the compound has not been released but I've googled "pleasant-smelling compound" and have gotten a few possibilities as to what it may be.

www.cem.msu.edu
Cinnamon bark, for example, yielded a pleasant smelling compound, formula C9H8O, named cinnamaldehyde. Because of the low hydrogen to carbon ratio in this and other aromatic compounds

66.102.7.10....

Lactarius camphoratus, an uncommon mushroom in this area,
has the sweet aromatic odor of fenugreek. A legume, native to
Europe, produces these seeds, which serve as an ingredient in
curry powder and in artificial maple flavoring.

Hopefully an ATS member who is good with chemistry will be able to help out in this area.

I'll post more dots for us to connect as I find them .

Very interesting stuff Umbrax. Thanks.

I need more info before I start ranting and raving, but it will come.

Here is the Google Earth screen shot of the path between Monell Chemical Senses Center and Manhattan.



Since I live about 2 thousand miles away from New York I'll need some help from people in that area to get detailed information.
I also need help from someone how knows chemistry well to figure out what "pleasant-smelling compound" may be used. I need help from someone to find out any patent information on this odor battling method and to find anymore details available.


From www.gothamist.com I have gotten some locations of where the smell has been found.

I just took a look at the weather from Thursday, October 27, 2005. That was the day of the odd smell.

www.wunderground.com
According to records, the wind at the Philadelphia International Airport were 8 mph / 13 km/h (NW). I don't know if that means the wind was heading North West or was coming from the North West. Either way it wasn't going in the direction towards New York. This means that the smell could not of come directly from the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
However, this doesn't dismiss the possibility of the Monell Chemical Senses Center being responsible for the smell.
We would have to some how place them in the wind direction of New York for the theory to still stand.
The wind that day in NY was 5 mph / 9 km/h (WNW).
Right now this "pleasant-smelling compound", to me, is still the best explanation of the sweet smell in NY.

Well, the Monell Chemical Senses Center defiantly does field tests.

www.newswise.com...

Working systematically, the research team first quantified the extent of the odor problem both in the laboratory and under field conditions using state-of-the-art sensory analysis techniques. Next they used analytical-organic chemistry methods to identify the chemicals responsible for malodors from farm animal waste.

Now It would be nice to find out where a field test for this project has been done.

If these guys are behind they mysterious NYC smell. Why would they not come forward? In fact why hasn't anyone come forward on the origins of the smell? Some one must know something, and that someone must have something to hide.

Originally posted by Umbrax
Well, the Monell Chemical Senses Center defiantly does field tests.

Now It would be nice to find out where a field test for this project has been done.

Uh huh. And I do think you're on to something here.

If these guys are behind they mysterious NYC smell. Why would they not come forward?

You're kidding right?

In fact why hasn't anyone come forward on the origins of the smell? Some one must know something, and that someone must have something to hide.

Yep. Maybe it's linked to nasal cancer. Joke. Sorta. But, someone's hiding something. No doubt about it.

Originally posted by soficrow

If these guys are behind they mysterious NYC smell. Why would they not come forward?

You're kidding right?

Well it suggest to me that what ever chemical is used may be dangerous and that they don't want to be held accountable for anything bad that might happen.

If that compound that they are using is safe and they were behind the NYC smell, then they should of come forward right away. If they are behind it and they are keeping it secret there must be some kind of danger present in this compound.

This is my line of thought anyway.

Originally posted by Umbrax

Originally posted by soficrow

If these guys are behind they mysterious NYC smell. Why would they not come forward?

You're kidding right?

Well it suggest to me that what ever chemical is used may be dangerous and that they don't want to be held accountable for anything bad that might happen.

That's exactly what I meant too. Guess I'm getting obtuse in my old age.

Keep lookin. Please. These fools are gonna market the crap for sure. We better know what it does.

After reading these two threads, I'm starting to think it was some kind of Batman Villain scenario...

It should be noted that phantom smells can result from brain tumors, but obviously the entire state of New York can't have brain tumors.

I can't remember which thread it was in, but someone made the comment along the lines of "if this was a dry run for a chemical weapon attack... It worked." Man, that is so true.

Zip

Well I wish someone would come up with a way to eliminate the odor that won't go away in my refrigerator since I evacuated from Hurricane Rita. I've tried charcoal, baking soda, vanilla, you name it! It is spotless yet still slightly reeks enough to annoy me. Any suggestions?

I'd try a diluted bleach solution to get rid of the odor.

Originally posted by aWoman
Well I wish someone would come up with a way to eliminate the odor that won't go away in my refrigerator since I evacuated from Hurricane Rita.

I had a broken fridge in my back yard for about a month. My friend warned me not to open it because the odor inside could be toxic. He helped me move it out and the door accidentally opened up on us. It reeked really bad, I thought I was going to die .

I don't think this technology can be applied to house hold odor removal. This method is supposed to neutralize the odor of manure from farms. Personally I think that fridge odor is worse, but it is hard to eat when the wind is blowing manure stink into your house.

Umbrax. Cinnemaldehyde can never be confused with maple syrup. Once you smell it - you'd know why.

Then it is defiantly not Cinnemaldehyde.
I was just posting my findings on "pleasant-smelling compound".
The question is, what "pleasant-smelling compound" would smell like maple, and what "pleasant-smelling compound" is being used by the Monell Chemical Senses Center?

I remember watching a NY morning show the day of the reported smell. I'll admit, it was Regis and Kelly. Kelly made a remark that she first smelled it at her house (which I think is in the Hamptons on Long Island) and that it was stronger in Manhattan. If this is true, it wouldn't hold to the theory that it was spilled in NY with the winds in the direction that they are in - (but she could have a Manhattan place too)

I live in the southern most town of Morris county in NJ - which is roughly 15 miles dead west of Manhattan. I couldn't smell anything abnormal that day.

as for the chemical, all I can say is that it most likely was a conjugated molecule since these have strongest smells (from what I remember in my two semesters of organic chem)

very unlikely that it was indeed the maple syrup though - since I think the smell is spread from heat and moisture from the pancakes or waffles wafting it into the air.

I think this is a very interesting thread!

Apparently benzoic acid can create a maple odor. However, when they tested the air they didn't find any.

www.newyorker.com

As for what that might be, Dole guessed that it must be the fumes from something sugary—molasses, caramel—which seemed sensible enough, on the eve of Halloween.“What you need to think about is something from a commercial industrial process,” he said. It so happened that the people at the city’s Office of Emergency Management, in concert with the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Coast Guard, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, were thinking the same thing. (Testing had ruled out an airborne toxic event; there was nothing unusual in the air, such as, say, benzoic acid, which apparently can give off a maple-syrup odor.) By late Friday morning, according to Jarrod Bernstein, an O.E.M. spokesman, officials were sampling the air at a chocolate factory in downtown Manhattan: Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, on Hudson Street. “It’s just not us. I’m so sorry,” Kris Kruid, a Chocolate Haven representative, said. “We’re not doing anything smelly. Of any kind.” Sure enough, by midafternoon the O.E.M. had cleared Chocolate Haven and was once again flummoxed.

So either they muddled up the test or the compound is not detectable.


Thanks for your input carlwfbird.

I've been trying to find the Patent/Patent Application that the Monell Chemical Senses Center is "expected to be given", but I've come up with nothing.
I've been using the search engine on www.freepatentsonline.com but I'm coming up dry.

I don't know if this means it doesn’t exist or if I'm just not looking for the patent in the right way.

Any help solving this mystery will be appreciated.