"At an ice cream production facility in southeast Missouri, this BOD waste discharged to the local publicly operated wastewater treatment plant contributed to odor complaints from hydrogen sulfide (H2S) formation and resulted in offensive odors around the collection and treatment process.

Contributing Factors
Any place or process where wastewater is collected, conveyed or treated has the potential to generate and release nuisance odors. These are the result of anaerobic or “septic” conditions. Such conditions occur when oxygen is deficient. Microbes known as sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) thrive under septic conditions and convert naturally occurring sulfate ion to sulfide ion in a biochemical process. H2S, which has a strong offensive “rotten egg” odor, is a byproduct of this process."