Airborne aromatic volatile organics in the vicinity of a refinery complex during operation and hot‐standby modes

Abstract

Airborne concentrations of aromatic volatile organics were measured inside a refinery complex and its vicinity in normal operation and stand-by mode, for which a naphtha plant had been semi-operated for two weeks for repairing the air pollution control devices. The monitoring program was conducted in five different regions: inside the naphtha plant, surroundings of the naphtha plant, inside the refinery complex, on the refinery fenceline, and in the neighborhood of the refinery.Total concentrations of volatile organics within the naphtha plant increased significantly in hot-standby mode due to fugitive emissions. The correlations between airborne concentrations inside the naphtha plant and those outside the refinery complex were not significant. Local traffic emissions, rather than refinery emissions, exhibited significant site-specific effects on ambient aromatic volatile organics.Characteristic ratios of various aromatic volatile organics also varied in different operation modes.

Mapping and Profile of Emission Sources for Airborne Volatile Organic Compounds from Process Regions at a Petrochemical Plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

“…As illustrated in Figure 2, the abundant VOCs were alkenes (40%), followed by the dienes (18%), alkanes (13%), aromatics (12%), ketones (5%), aldehydes (4%), and cyclic HCs (3%) in decreasing order. In general, the most abundant VOCs in a refinery or petrochemical plant were usually alkanes 5,6 ; in contrast, the most abundant VOCs in this plant were alkenes. This was mainly because, of these five regions, there were two naphtha cracking regions responsible to produce petrochemical basics, like ethene, propene, 1,3-butadiene, and aromatics, as well as cracked gasoline.…”

“…1 The VOC concentration from a petrochemical complex were reported 4-to 20-fold higher than those at a suburban site. [2][3][4][5][6][7] It was pointed out that, in a petrochemical plant, Ͼ90% of VOCs came from 10% equipment components. Therefore, locating emission sources was the first step to abate VOC emissions.…”

Location and Characterization of Emission Sources for Airborne Volatile Organic Compounds Inside a Refinery in Taiwan

“…The VOCs concentration from a petrochemical complex was reported 4-20 folds higher than those at a suburban site (Cetin et al, 2003;Corti et al, 2000;Na et al, 2001;Östermark, 1995;Tsai et al, 1996;Kalabokas et al, 2001). It was pointed out that in a petrochemical plant more than 80% of VOCs came from 20% equipment components.…”

Source Location and Characterization of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions at a Petrochemical Plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

“…Tsai et al 10 measured aromatic VOCs inside a refinery complex and its vicinity in normal operation, as well as in standby mode. Kalabokas et al 11 investigated the seasonal, diurnal, and spatial variations of VOCs around a Greek oil refinery.…”