Ventilation strategy for random pollutant releasing from rubber vulcanization process

Abstract

This paper investigates the emission characteristic of a rubber vulcanization process in a workshop and tries to formulate a ventilation strategy for the rubber vulcanization production process with a lower exhaust rate. Measurements were performed to derive detailed source emission characteristic of rubber vulcanization process in a rubber workshop. The measurement results show that the primary source emission process was concentrated within 600 s of a vulcanization process, the corresponding cumulative emission percentage reached up to 95%. Based on random pollutant releasing from rubber vulcanization process, a single local exhaust hood was applied for a curing machine, the corresponding exhaust rate of 4000 m3/h was proven to be reliable for capturing rubber fume by the experimental and numerical methods. The corresponding cumulative capture efficiency of the single local exhaust hood was 92.1% at 600 s. A new ventilation system equipped with single local exhaust hood was further designed for the rubber vulcanization production process line, and the total exhaust rate of this system was only a quarter of the original one used in a large exhaust hood system. These findings have illustrated that the new ventilation system equipped with single local exhaust hood could largely reduce the exhaust rate in a rubber vulcanization workshop.