How The ‘World’s Smelliest Substance’ Saves Lives
Taste is subjective. So is smell. But when the headline in the January 22, 2013 issue of The Mirror reads:
“The French stench: Gas leak from factory in France causes a stink 200 miles away in UK”
and the subheadline reads:
“The leak released a colourless gas called mercaptan – listed in the Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s smelliest substance”
… it’s a pretty good bet that this isn’t going to elicit a huge range of opinions about the scent of “mercaptan” – the odorant that is used to warn people of a gas leak. Almost any adjective conveying vileness will suffice: putrid, fetid, nauseating icky, etc.
The incident in question was a spill at the Lubrizol factory in Rouen, France in 2013. It’s difficult to tell which chemical spilled since “mercaptan” is a class of stinky compounds, not a unique chemical. In reality, it doesn’t much matter which mercaptan was spilled because all low molecular weight mercaptans are evil-smelling and different ones are used to add an odor to different types of natural gas.
Read more about the chemistry of mercaptan, the world’s smelliest substance, on the American Council of Science and Health website.
Do not get caught in a situation where you employees do not know what to do in a leak situation.
Midland Resource Recovery (MRR) offers custom classes that are unique to each client’s needs in most aspects of odorization with the focus being mercaptan spill prevention training.
