Title: | Performance of wet scrubbers to remove VOCs from rubber emissions |
Author(s): | Idris NF; Le-Minh N; Hayes JE; Stuetz RM; |
Address: | "School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia, Malaysian Rubber Board, P.O. Box 10150, 50908, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Electronic address: r.stuetz@unsw.edu.au" |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114426 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1095-8630 (Electronic) 0301-4797 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Poor performance of wet scrubbers in rubber processing plants due to breakthrough of specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) causes odour impact events. The performance of wet scrubbers in the rubber drying process to remove VOCs was investigated in order to determine the responsible odorants. VOC emissions originating at the inlet and outlet of wet scrubbers were quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/olfactometry (GC-MS/O). Critical VOCs were identified alongside seasonal and daily variations of those VOCs. Altogether, 80 VOCs were detected in rubber emissions with 16 classified as critical VOCs based on their chemical concentration, high odour activity value (OAV) and unpleasant odour. Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were the dominant VOCs with seasonal variations affecting emission composition. Results demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the wet scrubbers to mitigate odorous VOCs whereas the removal of some VOCs could be improved based on their polarity and solubility. It was found that there is a correlation between the wet scrubber performance and VFAs concentration in the emissions. The findings demonstrated that combining quantitative and sensory analyses improved accuracy in identifying odorous VOCs, which can cause odour annoyance from rubber processing. A VOC identification framework was proposed using both analyses approaches" |
Keywords: | *Air Pollutants/analysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Odorants/analysis Rubber *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis Odour nuisance Rubber emission Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Wet scrubber; |
Notes: | "MedlineIdris, Nur Fadhilah Le-Minh, Nhat Hayes, James E Stuetz, Richard M eng England 2022/01/09 J Environ Manage. 2022 Mar 1; 305:114426. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114426. Epub 2022 Jan 6" |