Industrial Painting Applications and VOC Emissions

Regarding VOCs that have human origin, they are regulated by law, especially those indoors, where concentrations are the highest, for example, in production areas where paint is sprayed or applied.

24th April 2019

There are several manufacturing processes in which solvents, alcohols and paint need to be applied onto a given piece in order to obtain a finished product. As a result of that process, VOCs are issued into the atmosphere and must be eliminated efficiently.

But what are VOCs?

VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. They are organic chemicals that become a gas at room temperature and are the main origin of air pollution at ground-level. According to several studies, VOCs are proven to be hazardous for human health and also affect the environment considerably.

There are several kinds of VOCs and they can be found everywhere, both indoors and outdoors. As per their origin, VOCs can be naturally occurring or human-generated. Regarding VOCs that have human origin, they are regulated by law, especially those indoors, where concentrations are the highest, for example, in production areas where paint is sprayed or applied.

Industrial processes where solvents and paint are applied

Some industrial processes where solvents, alcohols and painting are applied are: automotive painting booths; coating processes for vehicles, metal and plastic surfaces; coating in continuous steel processes, stainless steel and copper alloy; industrial finishing; chemical processes; plastic and rubber production; industrial dry cleaning processes; flexoprinting and lacking processes; as well as adhesives applications, etc.

Industrial paint application generates VOCs

Coatings, and especially industrial painting applications, are a main source of human-generated VOCs.

During automotive painting, for example, VOC emissions are generated during the phases of spraying by means of using solvent-based paints. Even though the Paint and Coating industries are changing more and more towards water-based paint due economic reasons, as well as international regulations and environmental concern, there is still a majority of the industry using solvent-based paint. But how is that regulated internationally?

European Paints Directive

Regarding environmental protection, European Paints Directive 2004/42/EC aims to prevent the negative environmental effects of VOC emissions vehicle refinishing products. That Directive controls the VOC content in paints and it establishes a maximum of VOC emissions limits for each category, therefore trying to reduce the environmental impact.

Does any Zero-VOC paint exist?

Although there are still some paint suppliers that claim to sell low VOC or VOC-free paint, there is no such thing yet as VOC-free or zero-VOC paint, since no recognised studies can show a paint as having zero VOC content yet. That is the same as saying that nowadays all paint contains VOCs in a certain amount. For instance, typical solvent-based paints can contain 50% of VOCs whereas water-based paints contain aproximately 8-15 % of VOCs.

Technology to eliminate VOCs issued during painting processes

As for VOC emissions elimination, each industry has its own technical requirements. As a technology supplier, Tecam Group is familiar with the production processes and requirements of the Paint and Coating industries and has a deep understanding of the technology they require for VOC emissions elimination.

Tecam Group provides Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers and Zeolite Rotor-Concentrators, fully custom-made and designed to adapt 100% to the specific VOC emissions treatment needs of each Painting and Coating customer worldwide.

Do you need further info on how to eliminate VOC emissions in the Auxiliary Automotive or Coating industries? Contact us at info@tecamgroup.com or call us directly on +34934281154 for further assistance.

Bibliography:

European Coatings

European Comission

Kim, Byung. (2011). VOC Emissions from Automotive Painting and Their Control: A Review. Eng. Res. March. 16. 1-9. 10.4491/eer.2011.16.1.001.

Wikipedia