Eliminating Foul Odors from Paint Ovens

Q.  I am an industrial engineer in charge of plant safety. Recently, some of our employees have been complaining about foul odors in the plant air. They are concerned for their safety and health, and rightfully so.  Some of them even complained about being sickened because of these odors. After a thorough investigation, I found out that the foul odors in question are coming from the paint bake oven. 

How can we get rid of foul odors produced by a conventional oven used for curing liquid paint? Do you have anything that you can recommend like a filtering system or an odor reducer? –A.R.

A.  I don’t know of any smell-reducer for foul paint bake oven odors.
If you are getting paint odors from your bake oven inside the plant, whether they are foul or pleasant, your oven exhaust is not vented properly to the outside of the building. Instead, the exhausted fumes are entering the plant air. If this is a new event, it could indicate a blockage of the exhaust duct. 

It could also indicate a break or leak in the duct inside the plant before it leaves the building. If this is an existing condition, perhaps installing a fan or blower in the oven exhaust duct will help to move the foul odor out of the plant. It is important to note that if the foul odors are the result of emissions that do not meet air quality standards, you will have to install pollution control devices on your exhaust stacks.