What are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and what are the technologies to treat them?
Volatile-Organic-Compounds (VOCs) are substances containing at least one carbon atom in the molecular structure (organic chemical molecules).
In the?#VOC?category several species are classified: aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, cycloalkanes, terpenes, alcohols, glycols, aldehydes, ketones, halocarbons, acids, and esters.
Adverse health effects from exposure to a particular substance will result from a wide range of reactions and interactions that occur in the body. The chemical diversity of the VOC group is reflected in the variety of the health issue that individual VOCs can originate, ranging from relatively inert VOCs ???? to the high toxicity of reactive VOCs ????. The main group of effects concern sensory, irritation, allergic, respiratory carcinogenic effects and many others
The technologies for treating the VOC compounds can be divided in two main groups:
a) Techniques that destroy the pollutant. The destruction is usually carried out by oxidation of the VOC:?
b) Techniques that change the phase or remove the pollutant without destroying it. The removal is usually carried out by:
领英推荐
This last group simply imply the transfer of the pollutant to another medium.
Emerging techniques are spark-generated carbon aerosol particles, treatment using mesoporous chromium oxide or silica fiber matrix, ultraviolet (UV) photooxidation mediated by heterogeneous photocatalyst particles and others.
Interesting review by Rumchev et al. published by “Reviews on Environmental Health” give a broad?classification and related health effects, while in another interesting article Parmar et al. explore in more detail what are the emerging techniques in VOC treatment.
Source: K. Rumchev et al. - Reviews on Environmental Health (https://lnkd.in/d6Y4Nas)
G. R. Parmar et al. - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10643380701413658)
Professor of Chemical Engineering at Petroleum & Gas Engineering Department-University of Thi Qar. Top 10% of Researchers Contributing to the Peer Review of the Field of Chemical Engineering of 2016,released by Clarivate
1 年Thank you for sharing this informative post about volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the technologies used to treat them. It's important to understand the different types of VOCs and their potential health effects. It's also interesting to know that there are various techniques available for treating VOCs, including those that destroy the pollutant and those that remove it without destroying it. The emerging techniques mentioned in the post, such as spark-generated carbon aerosol particles and UV photooxidation mediated by heterogeneous photocatalyst particles, are also fascinating. This is a valuable resource for anyone interested in environmental health and sustainability.
Technical Sales
1 年Excellent subject, I have been working on it for more than 5 years and I have done 2 projects in petrochemical to gather and treat VOC emissions from their wastewater pound. one of the projects was finished last week.
Chemical Process Engineer
1 年Very nice Matteo Compagnoni. In the biogas upgrading industry VOC is a big concern ??