No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A new membrane-based continuous absorption-stripping p ro c e s s has been developed to separate gas/vapor mixture s , such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fr om a n i t rogen I N T R O D U C T I O NL a rge amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted to the atmosphere every year from painting facilities, purge streams in chemical plants, p e t roleum facilities, air-stripping operations etc. Such d i s c h a rging of VOCs to the atmosphere is unacceptable, and must be reduced under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and various regulations pro m u lgated by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency ( E PA). Rudy and Carroll [1] and Mukhopadhyay and M o r retti [2] have summarized various methods currently used in VOC abatements, including: therm a l oxidation, catalytic oxidation, biofiltration, condensation, absorption, adsorption and membrane perm eation [3]. The evaluation and selection of an appro p r iate VOC abatement technology depend upon many factors, including environmental, economic and energy. Every method has its strengths and weaknesses. This paper reports the results of a pilot plant study on VOC abatement using a newly developed membrane-based absorption and stripping technique at a small painting facility at a Department of Defense (DoD) base. It is known from a recent study [4] that the absorption method is quite economical and highly