One of the biggest problems of contamination in our town has even made it to the tv, so here we are with our investigation of the problem. The residents of Villanueva del Pardillo have been complaining for years about the bad smells that plague the town.
After a brief investigation, it has been concluded that this smell comes from a brewery located in the vicinity of a senior center, and a school. This is the most worrying thing for the neighbors and that is why we have decided to investigate about the composition of the beer and its manufacturing process:
• The main element of beer is Malt, which is normally made up of barley seeds. Although beer can be made with any cereal that can be malted, that is, whose seed has starch and it is possible for it to germinate.
• Another main element of this drink is water, this is used in practically all the processes of making beer, both in the initial moments and in the mixture with the malt. Water occupies between 85 and 92% of the beer.
• The rest of the beer ingredients are hops that provide that bitter taste and smell. Yeast, a single-celled organism that ferments the carbohydrates and amino acids of cereals in ethyl alcohol and CO2. In the last place, the grits are added that make the production more stable and are usually other cereals such as wheat or corn. Finally, the sugar that is added during the boiling process to increase the amount of alcohol in the final product.
In short, the brewing process is divided into three steps:
– Obtaining the beer wort
- Fermentation of beer
- Packaging and bottling.
The important thing about this research is in the components of the beer. As we have already mentioned, hops is the ingredient that provides that bitter taste and ODOR to the beer. We have spent a few minutes investigating possible devices to control the odor of this drink.
The first result of our search has been a company that promises that through its “AIRCON” filters, which are filled with activated carbon, they can help solve this problem. Although the Villanueva del Pardillo factory has communicated that it already uses filters to combat these problems, we have created a questionnaire, which we have already used and here we attach the results.
1.- 55% claim to have noticed odors repeatedly and 35% in a few occasions, while 10% say they have never noticed anything.
2.- 70% claim to have noticed the smell in the afternoon while 20% in the morning, and 10% claim not to have perceived it.
3.- 70% affirm that it is a very annoying smell, 20% affirm that it is bearable, and 10% do not consider it harmful or have never noticed it.
4.- 80% have affirmed to know the origin of the smell, without knowing if their answer is correct, we can verify that it has been reported since they perceived the smell and it was annoying. Only 20% have denied knowing its origin.
This question was not formulated with options but it was a free answer, where we have verified that the vast majority of the people who have been asked are correctly informed or in the absence of some nuances, while we continued to receive negative responses to the existence of this smell. .
5.- 45% say they have perceived an unremarkable change, 25% have not noticed any changes and 20% very noticeable changes. While 10% say they have never perceived any odor.
Due to the smell of bait produced by the beer factory we have noticed a drop in air quality. Lots of people have complained about it, specially athletes because it affects they’re health and they’re breathing capacity.
We have thought about some solutions to fight this problem. Our solutions go from moving the factory of site which is very complicated to carry out, to modifying the factory timetable to an early morning one to avoid problems odor problems. Another solution may be to agree with the town hall to make possible the use of different filters to control the odor and its consequences.
Autores: Ángela Paszor, Juan González, Mateo Piergiacomi, Carlos Sampedro
