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

Abstract

This study aimed to locate VOC emission sources and characterized their emitted VOCs. To avoid interferences from vehicle exhaust, all sampling sites were positioned inside the refinery. Samples, taken with canisters, were analyzed by GC-MS according to TO-14 method. The survey period extended from Febrary 2004 to December 2004, sampling twice per season. To interpret a large number of VOC data was a rather difficult task. This study featured using ordinary application software, Excel and Surfer, instead of expensive one like GIS, to overcome it. Consolidating data into a database on Excel facilitated retrieval, statistical analysis and presentation in the form of either table or graph. The cross analysis of the data suggested that the abundant VOCs were alkanes, alkenes, aromatics and cyclic HCs. Emission sources were located by mapping the concentration distribution of these four types of VOCs in terms of contour maps on Surfer. During eight surveys, five emission sources were located and their VOCs were characterized.

Emission and profile characteristic of volatile organic compounds emitted from coke production, iron smelt, heating station and power plant in Liaoning Province, China

“…However, the information lack of VOC emission from coal-fired sources (Fernandez-Martinez et al, 2001;Tsai et al, 2003). Lots of investigations have been undertaken for VOC emissions from vehicle (Olson et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2010), biomass burning (Schauer et al, 2001;Evtyugina et al, 2012;Jumpponen et al, 2012), solvent (Niedojadlo et al, 2007;Yuan et al, 2010;Zheng et al, 2012), petrochemical (Chen et al, 2005(Chen et al, , 2006a and refinery (Cetin et al, 2003;Lin et al, 2004;Chen et al, 2006b).…”

“…The analyzed 107 VOC species from the four types of stationary sources in Liaoning could be categorized into 8 groups, including nalkanes, halogenated hydrocarbons, branched alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes/alkynes, alcohols/ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, and so on (Schauer et al, 2002;Chen et al, 2006b), as shown in Table 2. The total amounts of analyzed 107 VOCs varied from 10,917 to 19,652 μg m −3 with the order as iron smelt plant (19,652 μg m −3 ) N thermal power plant (16,287 μg m −3 ) N heating station (13,928 μg m −3 ) N coke production plant (10,918 μg m −3 ), which indicated that there were more serious health risks to human around the iron smelt plant than that around the other types of stationary sources in this study.…”

Determination of volatile organic compounds in industrial wastewater plant air emissions by multi-sorbent adsorption and thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

“…Therefore, a major concern regarding toxic VOCs in wastewater is the potential air emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Although several papers have focused on the monitoring of VOC emissions in industrial facilities [10][11][12][13][14][15], the emissions of VOCs from wastewaters in industrial-sewage treatment plants are often overlooked as sources of hazardous substances. Previous papers have shown the influence of urban WWTP emissions on air quality [16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Distribution of volatile organohalogen compounds in petrochemical plant water streams

“…VOX can be emitted from different sources, including separation and conversion processes, wastewater treatment, cooling water, combustion of residuals and operating devices like valves, pumps or pressure-relief valves [10]. Halogenated hydrocarbons can contribute up to 3% of atmospheric volatile organic compounds detected at a refinery site [11]. 1,2-DCA was detected in the atmosphere at a petrochemical plant in Turkey [12] and 1,2-DCA, dichloromethane (DCM), chloroform, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethene were detected in the atmosphere in the vicinity of a Korean refinery [13].…”