Chemical Plants & Industrial Processes

Any chemical and industrial processes involving a combustion step will form undesirable by-products requiring specialist emissions control. Carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and specific categories of air toxics such as volatile organic compounds (VOC), halogenated VOC (HVOC), hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and other malodorous substances can be vented or discharged from a wide range of processes and the type and concentration can vary significantly depending on the process conditions and application.

Most VOC is emitted from solvent-based processes but can also come from unreacted feedstock or decomposition products. Many process streams also contain inorganic material such as dust and carbonaceous particulate matter (PM) that can influence the applicability of abatement technology.

Typical examples of VOC emissions include ethanol and acetaldehyde from bread baking, caffeine and other VOCs from coffee roasting and formaldehyde, phenols and phthalates from resin manufacturing industry. Petrochemical plants will emit a variety of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons whilst the printing industry generates alcohol and acetate-based VOC emissions. Other VOC sources include chlorinated hydrocarbons used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals or as solvents in wooden furniture manufacture and ethylene oxide from hospital sterilisation ovens.