New understanding of source profiles: Example of the coating industry

The source profiles of VOCs in the industry are closely related to the raw and auxiliary materials, process characteristics and waste gas treatment of the enterprise, as well as the number of VOCs that can be identified by analytical methods. In the process of industry transformation, it is necessary to update the source profiles. This study selects the coating industry as a case study as it is in a transitional stage and has high volatile organic compounds (VOCs) production and odor complaints. The VOCs emissions in seven coating enterprises in 2019 were studied using a broad-spectrum and high species identification rate analysis method to identify many new species of VOCs, which increased the total emissions by 6.4 times compared with previous studies. A total of 26 new types of VOCs pollutants were identified, especially the number of oxygenated VOCs species increased by 3.1 times, and proved that butyl acetate replaced the benzene series to become was the new dominant species in the coating industry. And the average ozone formation potential (OFP) of coating industry was 2.6 times the measurement result of the classic method of PAMs and TO15. The source reactivity increased on average by 366.7%.

Automated summary

This study focused on the source profiles of VOCs in the coating industry, identifying many new species of VOCs and finding that butyl acetate had replaced the benzene series as the dominant species. The industry's average ozone formation potential was found to be 2.6 times higher than the measurement results of traditional methods, and the source reactivity increased by an average of 366.7%.