How

to reduce
VOC
emissions
 Background,
Prologue techniques and
considerations for
VOC abatement

Table of Content Dear Reader,

New to air pollution control technology? Not

European Union definition of VOC
sure where to begin? This guidebook gives you
a comprehensive view to what are vocs and
Legislation regarding air pollutants how do they impact the environment. We take
a look at The legislation under The European
EU VOC diretive sets limits for industries Union directive for VOC emissions.

How VOCs impact to environment? As under a heavy legislation, The industries are
forced to reduce AIR pollution. Therefore, in
Global warming and health risks this guidebook we have listed a full range of
different technologies in use for VOC emission
abatement. But how to select a suitable one?
VOC abatement technologies
In The end of this book, we have collected 10
important criteria for you to consider when
How to Choose the right tehnology: comparing technologies and choosing The
10 important criteria Most suitable one for your business.

Better business with cleaner Hopefully this guidebook will give you insight
environment into VOC abatement, and is a good tool for
choosing a right solution.
Global warming

European
Union
definition of
VOC

What are VOCs?

VOCs are a well-known outdoor air pollutant. They are categorized as either
methane (CH4) or non-methane (NMVOCs).

The European Union defines a VOC as ”any organic compound having an in-
itial boiling point less than or equal to 250 °C (482 °F) measured at a standard
atmospheric pressure of 101.3 kPa.” The VOC Solvents Emissions Directive is
the main policy instrument for the reduction of industrial emissions of vola-
tile organic compounds (VOCs) in the European Union. It covers a wide range
of solvent using activities, e.g. printing, surface cleaning, vehicle coating, dry
cleaning and manufacture of footwear and pharmaceutical products.
Global warming

Legislation
regarding air
pollutants

Paris Agreement
The goal of agreement is to keep the increase in global average temperature to
well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels; and to limit the increase to 1.5 °C,
since this would substantially reduce the risks and effects of climate change.
On October 2018 IPPC published special report on global warming. In the re-
port IPPC says that the target 1.5 °C is possible to achieve but ”deep emissions
reductions” and ”rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects
of society” are necessary.

What is an air pollutant?

An air pollutant is a material that can have adverse effects on humans and the
ecosystem. The substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. A
pollutant can be of natural origin or man-made.

Substances emitted into the atmosphere by human activity include

• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Sulfur oxides (SOx)
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
• Ammonia
• Odors
 EU
VOC diretive
sets limits for
industries

European Union has set a directive (1999/13/EC) for VOC emissions. The
purpose of directive is to prevent or reduce the direct and indirect effects of
emissions of volatile organic compounds into the environment, mainly into
air, and the potential risks to human health. EU VOC directive sets emission
limits for different industries including adhesive coating, coating activity, coil
coating, dry cleaning, footwear manufacture, manufacturing of coating prepa-
rations, varnishes, inks and adhesives, manufacturing of pharmaceutical prod-
ucts, printing, rubber conversion, surface cleaning, vegetable oil and animal fat
extraction and vegetable oil refining activities, vehicle refinishing, winding wire
coating, wood impregnation, wood and plastic lamination.

Many other countries have set their own legislation for VOC emissions.
Global warming

How VOCs
impact to
environment?

Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth’s

climate system, an aspect of climate change shown by temperature measure-
ments and by multiple effects of the warming.
According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ”It is ex-
tremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the ob-
served warming since the mid-20th century.” The main human influence to
global warming is the greenhouse gases.
Depending on the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and on climate feedback
effects, IPPC has estimated that during the 21st century the global surface
temperature will increase 1,8–4,5 °C.

Source: NOAA
 Global
warming and
health risks

Greenhouse gases Contribute to global warming

VOCs are categorized as either methane (CH4) or non-methane (NMVOCs).
Methane is an extremely efficient greenhouse gas which contributes to en-
hanced global warming. Other hydrocarbon VOCs are also significant green-
house gases because of their role in creating ozone and prolonging the life of
methane in the atmosphere. This effect varies depending on local air quality.

Health risk
Respiratory, allergic, or immune effects in infants or children are associat-
ed with man-made VOCs and other indoor or outdoor air pollutants. Health
effects include eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination,
nausea; and damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system. Some
organics can cause cancer in animals; some are suspected or known to cause
cancer in humans. Key signs or symptoms associated with exposure to VOCs
include conjunctival irritation, nose and throat discomfort, headache, allergic
skin reaction, dyspnea, declines in serum cholinesterase levels, nausea, vomit-
ing, nose bleeding, fatigue, dizziness.
 VOC
abatement
technologies

Different possibilities and technologies to reduce VOC emission are availa-

ble. One possibility is use raw material which VOC content is lower (e.g. wa-
ter-based paints). However, this isn’t always possible and the VOC emission has
to be purified with VOC abatement technologies.

Different
VOC abatement technologies

1. Oxidation technologies

Thermal oxidation
• VOC gases will be oxidized to CO2 and H20 in high temperature >750 °C
• Regenerative oxidizer consists two or more heat transfer beds which is
heated from a previous oxidation cycle to preheat the input gases to par-
tially oxidize them. The preheated gases enter a combustion chamber that
is heated by an external fuel source to reach the target oxidation tempera-
ture. Thermal efficiency is >90%
• Recuperative oxidizer has a primary and/or secondary heat exchanger
 VOC
abatement
technologies

within the system. A primary heat exchanger preheats the incoming dirty air
by recuperating heat from the exiting clean air. This is done by a shell and
tube heat exchanger or a plate heat exchanger.

Catalytic oxidation
• Catalytic oxidation is a process where preheated exhaust gas is in contact
with a porous catalytic active material. This oxidization method is a fast and
flameless combustion.
• Operation temperature >300 °C
• Regenerative and recuperative technologies are possible

2. Adsorption method
• Molecules from exhaust gases are adsorbed to the surface of a solid mate-
rial.
• The most common adsorption material is activated carbon.
• This method operates in quite low temperatures.

3. Absorption method
Absorption is a diffusion mass transfer operation in which the soluble gas com-
ponents are separated from the gas stream by dispersing it with the dissolving
liquid.
 VOC
abatement
technologies

4. Biofilters
• Biofiltration is a pollution control technique using living material to capture
and biologically degrade process pollutants.
• Biofiltration is the simplest and the cheapest biological process to clean
volatile organic compounds.
• In a biofiltration process an exhaust gas pretreatment is needed so that the
micro-organisms have an optimal environment to operate.

5. Condensation
• In condensation organic compounds are recovered from liquid after the
exhaust gases are condensed. Condensation needs either lower tempera-
ture or higher vapor pressure until the saturation point of the compounds
in the condensation has been reached.
 How to
choose the
right
technology

When creating an optimal design

for each operation, consider the
following 10 variables
1. Consider your process capacity needs • Phosphorus
over coming years • Heavy metals
2. Measure your process air flow • Halogen
(Nm3/h)
• Sulfur
3. Measure your temperature of inlet gas
These compounds are so called cata-
4. Measure the amount of VOC g/Nm3 lyst poisons and it is important to en-
(min, average and max) sure the system is designed to handle
5. Measure the type and percentages of the mentioned compounds and partic-
VOCs (e.g. toluene 40% and ethanol ulates.
60%) 9. Consider the installation location at
6. Determine emission limit or needed your site
purification efficiency
10. It is important to calculate total cost
7. Determine process working hours for coming years for the right invest-
8. Following compounds should be ment decision
identified and measured from VOCs: • Investment cost
• Silicones • Operation costs
• Chlorides • Maintenance costs
 Better
business with
cleaner
environment

In conclusion
Clean air requirements have become more regulated and the requirements and
legislations will come more stricter in the future. When choosing the right VOC
abatement system, it is important to take into account many different aspects
such as energy consumption, maintenance and possible business growth.

Modern technologies help us to save energy, shorten the payback time of in-
vestment and have cleaner air.

We hope this guide book has been useful to you. Our team is ready to help you
to find right solution for your needs.
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built through our understanding of your activities.

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equals knowledge of air impurities and of ways to remove them.

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