Source Profiles and Impact of Volatile Organic Compounds in the Coating Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

SUMMA canisters were used to collect the exhaust gas from eight coating manufacturers in East China. A total of 106 VOCs was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method to identify the emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the contribution of VOCs emitted by various companies to ozone generation, and the source profiles of solvent-based and water-based coatings were established. The results show that the characteristic components of VOCs in the coating manufacturing industry are mainly aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons. The concentration ranges from 65.5% to 99.9%. The VOC emissions of solvent-based coatings were mainly aromatic hydrocarbons, accounting for 63.0%-94.0% of total VOCs; VOC emissions from waterborne coatings were mainly composed of oxygenated hydrocarbons, accounting for 54.5% to 99.9% of the total VOCs. m,p-xylene (32.4%), ethylbenzene (19.0%), and ethyl acetate (12.1%) were solvent-based coating sources, and ethyl acetate (83.7%) and 2-butyl ketone (8.0%) were the sources of waterborne coating emissions. Aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons are the main active components in the coating manufacturing industry, with a total contribution to the ozone generation potential (OFP) ranging from 92.9% to 99.9%. Source reactivity (SR) analysis showed that the VOCs per unit mass of water-based coatings contributed much less to the formation of ozone than solvent-based coatings, so water-based coatings significantly reduced the potential for ozone generation. Studies have shown that for VOC pollution control in the coating manufacturing industry, attention should be paid to the VOCs that contribute more to the ozone-forming potential of aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons, and VOC emissions should be controlled from the source.