Quantification and assessment of chemical footprint of VOCs in polyester fabric production

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can easily diffuse into atmosphere, causing deleterious effects on human health via different exposure pathways due to their high volatility and toxicity. The methodology of chemical footprint (ChF) can be used to quantitatively distinguish the harmful toxicity impacts of emitted chemical pollutants, providing reference for enterprises to improve their production technologies as well as selecting environmental-friendly chemicals to mitigate negative environmental effects. In this paper, a new method combining the emission characteristics of VOCs and their human toxicity was proposed for ChF calculation and assessment of VOCs generated in the production of polyester fabrics. The results showed that VOCs emitted from dyeing and finishing process had the largest ChF, followed by crude oil refinery process, polycondensation process and spinning process, of which the ChFs were 3.34E-02 Cases, 2.25E-03 Cases, 8.10E-04 Cases, 4.09E-01 Cases, respectively. According to the operation characteristics of each process, tridecyl polyoxyethylene ether, n hexane, p-xylene and 2, 6-di-tert-butyl para-cresol were the specific VOCs pollutants, occupying the largest proportion of ChFs in dyeing and finishing process, crude oil refinery process, polyester polycondensation process and spinning process respectively. Additionally, alkanes and oxygenated VOCs (e.g. ethers and esters) with high toxicity are the major VOCs species in polyester production emissions. Considerable attention should be paid to the improvement of technology and selection of heat resistant dyestuff and auxiliaries in the dyeing and finishing process of polyester fabrics.

Automated summary

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have harmful effects on human health and the chemical footprint (ChF) method can quantify their toxicity impacts. This study proposes a new method combining VOCs emissions and their human toxicity for calculating and assessing VOCs in the production of polyester fabrics. The results show that VOCs emitted during dyeing and finishing have the highest ChF, followed by crude oil refining, polyester polycondensation, and spinning processes. Specific VOCs pollutants include tridecyl polyoxyethylene ether, n-hexane, p-xylene, and 2,6-di-tert-butyl para-cresol.