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Proposals for tighter VOC regime force
focus on emissions control
19 November 2003 — Following the publication
of proposals for applying the EU Solvents Directive
(Directive/1999/13/EC) to more than 10,000 smaller
industrial processes, expectations are rising that
tighter controls could soon be introduced and more
businesses will be affected than ever before.
An announcement regarding the proposals published
by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs earlier this year is now expected before the
end of the year and the implications for many UK industries
using solvents as part of their processes or recovering
solvent emissions could be far-reaching.
Diana Raine, business manager cryogenics, Air Products,
comments:
"Many industries are already affected by either
the current Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC)
regulatory regime or local air pollution control (LAPC)
and for these, the focus on solvent emissions control
will be nothing new. However, even these industries
are likely to need to review their current emissions
control systems to ensure they are fully compliant
with the new tough VOC regime now and in the future."
The main change expected in the UK legislation is
the reduction of the threshold at which compliance
becomes necessary across a wider range of processes.
For example, under the current PPC regime only those
vehicle refinishing installations using more than
one tonne of solvent a year are required to comply.
The EU Directive states that this threshold should
be lowered to 0.5 tonnes a year, a move which is expected
to affect an additional 2500 installations.
The proposed regulations released by DEFRA reveal
that even highly regulated industries - such as pharmaceuticals
and fine chemicals manufacturing industries, will
face tougher constraints. A further 15 pharmaceutical
and fine chemical solvent-using processes, not currently
affected by PPC regulations, are likely to fall under
the new regime.
Diana Raine comments:
"As the new regime is now literally just around
the corner, we are already hearing from more businesses
seeking tried and tested emissions control solutions
which qualify as 'best available techniques' (BAT)
to recover VOCs from processes in an efficient and
effective way.
"Cryogenic condensation systems represent the
cleanest and most effective way to remove VOCs from
exhaust gas streams, in order to meet the toughest
global emissions limits as currently specified by
TA Luft 1. Such systems
are designed to be flexible to changing on site demands
and can be easily adapted to recover even the most
difficult VOCs."
Cryogenic condensation systems work by cooling the
exhaust gas stream, which contains the solvents, to
freezing point, using liquid nitrogen. The solvents
are then condensed and collected and the clean nitrogen
may be reused elsewhere on site if appropriate, which
can significantly reduce operating costs.
Such systems are capable of recovering most VOCs,
including hexane, methyl chloride, acetone, ethyl
acetate, toluene, trichethylene and dichloromethane
and solvent-testing may be carried out in advance
of installation to demonstrate its effectiveness.
For more information about cryogenic condensation
technology, contact Air Products on 0800 3890202,
visit www.airproducts.com/epm
or email: contact.
1 TA Luft
is the German Technical Directive for Air Pollution
Abatement, which has set emissions limits for air
pollutants. These emissions limits have set a benchmark
for emissions limits across the EU.
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