Abstract
With the rapid development of metal packaging, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from the packaging processes are also increasing gradually. It is necessary to research the characteristics of VOCs emissions from such important industrial source and its impact on the possible ozone formation. In this research, three typical metal packaging plants were selected, VOCs emission characteristics were investigated, and their ozone formation potential were evaluated by using maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) coefficient method. The results showed that the VOCs emission characteristics of the selected targets were obviously different. VOCs emitted from plant A and B were mainly oxygenated hydrocarbons, which accounted for 85.02% and 43.17%, respectively. Olefins (62.75%) were the main species of plant C. 2-butanone (82.67%), methylene chloride (23.00%) and ethylene (36.67%) were the major species of plant A, plant B and plant C, respectively. The OFP (ozone formation potential) value of plant B (120.49 mg/m3) was much higher than those values of plant A (643.05 mg/m3) and plant C (3311.73 mg/m3), in which para-xylene, meta-xylene, acetaldehyde and ethylene were the main contributors. The difference in OFP values indicated that water-based ink and water-based coatings should be recommended for large scale application due to less VOCs emission and low ozone formation contribution.
Highlights
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plant A fell in the range of0–600 mg/m3, plant B and plant C were in the range of 0–270 and 0–410 mg/m3, respectively
VOCs emitted from water-based coatings showed lower concentrations compared with those emitted from solvent-based coatings in plant A, which was similar as the results of reference, where the VOCs concentrations from water-based paints varied from 0.62 mg/m3 to 36.49 mg/m3, and VOCs concentrations from solvent-based coatings were in the range of 0–100. 39 mg/m3 [16]
Water-based inks could lead to the lower emissions of VOCs compared with solvent-based inks, which were consistent with the findings of others [18]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) usually refer to organic chemical compounds involved in atmospheric photochemical reactions, including alkanes, olefins, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, ethers, chlorinated and sulfurous containing organic matters and so on [1]. VOCs could lead to the formation of ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA), and bring threat to human health such as respiratory function damage, being teratogenic and carcinogenic due to long-term exposure [2,3,4,5,6]. It is of importance to control the emissions of VOCs from important sources such as industrial activities, which are proved to be rather important among those anthropogenic sources, especially in China [7]
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