Abstract
Leak detection and repair (LDAR) plays an important role in controlling the fugitive emission of volatile organic compound (VOC) from chemical enterprises. At present, many policies and standards issued in China have set clear requirements for implementing LDAR in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, the LDAR work of nine typical pharmaceutical enterprises was selected for analysis to allow investigation of the characteristics of VOC emissions from leaking equipment components. Some suggestions for controlling VOC are proposed to provide a reference for managing the fugitive emissions of VOC from pharmaceutical enterprises. The results showed that the number of equipment components used by the pharmaceutical enterprises ranged from several thousand to more than 20,000, which is lower than that in oil refining and coal chemical enterprises. The predominant leaky component was the flange, which accounted for 56.31% of the total, followed by connectors (21.51%) and valves (18.53%). Light liquid medium components accounted for the largest proportion of equipment (52.83%) on average, followed by gas medium components (45.52%, on average). Heavy liquid medium components, which are rarely used in pharmaceuticals, accounted for only 1.65%. The average leak ratio of the components in the pharmaceutical industry was approximately 0.99%. The leak ratio of the open-ended line was much higher than that of other types of components, reaching an average of 5.00%, while that value was only 0.92% for the flange, despite the numbers and proportion of them that were in use. The total annual VOC leakage from the nine pharmaceutical enterprises studied in this work was 20.11 tons, with an average of 2.23 tons per enterprise and an average of 0.22 kg/a per equipment component. Flanges, connectors, and valves were the top three contributors to leakage, generating 39.17%, 38.72%, and 16.79% of the total, respectively, and a total proportion of 94.68%. Although the number of pumps accounted for only 0.15% of the components, it generated 1.94% of the leakage. In terms of different production processes, the greatest unit product leakage came from the bulk production of chemicals used for pharmaceuticals, reaching 0.085 t/a. The production from traditional Chinese medicine enterprises was the lowest (0.011 t/a), which was only 12.80% of the leakage from the bulk production of chemicals for drugs. The leakage of VOC from the equipment components in the nine enterprises was reduced, to varying degrees, using LDAR. The overall reduction ratio was between 23.55% and 67.72%, with an average of 44.02%. The reduction in leakage was relatively significant after the implementation of LDAR; however, there is still room for improvement. Pharmaceutical enterprises should improve their implementation of LDAR and reduce VOC leakage by reducing the number of inaccessible components used and increasing the repair ratio of leaky components. Controlling the source of component leakage, which should be emphasized, can be realized by cutting down the number of components used, adopting low-leakage equipment, and putting anti-leakage measures in place.
Highlights
In recent years, great efforts have resulted in continuous improvement of the air quality in China [1,2]
The use of solvents in this industry means that leakage from production equipment can result in fugitive volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, which is an important form of VOC emissions from the pharmaceutical industry [28,29,30]
Based on the above analyses and data on VOC leak control in China and other Based on the above analyses and data on VOC leak control in China and other countries, the following are some suggestions for controlling VOC leaks from equipment countries, the following are some suggestions for controlling VOC leaks from equipment components in the pharmaceutical industry
Summary
Great efforts have resulted in continuous improvement of the air quality in China [1,2]. The use of solvents in this industry means that leakage from production equipment can result in fugitive VOC emissions, which is an important form of VOC emissions from the pharmaceutical industry [28,29,30]. According to a study of VOC emissions from synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry facilities, equipment leakage accounts for 40–60% of the total VOC emissions from a plant [31]. Chinese national standards and policy documents such as the Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Pharmaceutical Industry (GB37823-2019) have considered leak detection and repair (LDAR). The purpose of this study is to support the control of VOC emissions resulting from equipment leakage under the newest policy requirements, thereby paving the way for controlling fugitive VOC emissions from the pharmaceutical industry
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