CONTROL OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCs) 381

to bum, typically on the tubes in which the water is boiled or the steam superheated.
If soot is allowed to collect there, it will impede heat transfer and make the boiler
less efficient. The cure for this problem is a soot blower, which is typically a fixed
or moving steam jet that blows high-pressure steam onto the surface of the tubes to
remove this soot. Normally, soot blowing is required only a few minutes per day. Soot
dislodged in this way exits the furnace as short-period emissions of black smoke.
Most public relations officers ask plant engineers to do all soot blowing at night.
Combustion is discussed further in Chapters 12 and 13.

10.5.2 Biological Oxidation (Biofiltration)

As discussed above, the ultimate fate of VOCs is to be oxidized to C02 and HzO,
either in our engines or furnaces, or incinerators, or in the environment. Many mi-
croorganisms will carry out these reactions fairly quickly at room temperature. They
form the basis of most sewage treatment plants (oxidizing more complex organic
materials than the simple VOCs of air pollution interest). Microorganisms can also
oxidize the VOCs contained in gas or air streams. The typical biojilter (not truly a
filter but commonly called one; better called a highly porous biochemical reactor)
consists of the equivalent of a swimming pool, with a set of gas distributor pipes
at the bottom, covered with several feet of soil or compost or loam in which the
microorganisms live. The contaminated gas enters through the distributor pipes and
flows slowly up through soil, allowing time for the VOC to dissolve in the water
contained in the soil, and then to be oxidized by the microorganisms that live there.
Typically these devices have soil depths of 3 to 4 ft, void volumes of 50%,
upward gas velocities of0.005 to 0.5 ft/s, and gas residence times of 15 to 60s. They
work much better with polar VOCs, which are fairly soluble in water (see Sec. 10.2)
than with HCs whose solubility is much less. The microorganisms must be kept
moist, protected from conditions that could injure them, and in some cases given
nutrients. Because of the long time the gases must spend in them, these devices are
much larger and take up much more ground surface than any of the other devices
discussed in this chapter. In spite of these drawbacks, there are some applications
for which they are economical, and for which they are used industrially [28].

10.6 THE MOBILE SOURCE PROBLEM

Table 10.1 shows that motor vehicles are the largest squrce of VOC emissions in
the United States, with 40% of the total. This includes all kinds of motor vehicles,
autos, busses, aircraft, and boats. Although autos have a higher control efficiency
than most of the others, because of the large number of autos they are still the largest
source of VOC. Chapter 13 discusses the auto problem in greater detail. In general,
the approaches taken to date have been control of leaks, adsorption followed by
recycling for some sources, and improved combustion, both in the engine and in a
catalyst in the exhaust system, to minimize the emission of VOCs. The principles
are the same as those discussed here, but the application is complex and difficult.
382 AIR POLLUTION CONTROL ENGINEERING

I 000000

100000 Biofiltration
Bioscrubbing
:2 Trickling filters Incineration
.;,.-
5 10000
~
0
<;:::
Vl Regenerative Scrubbing
"' Condensation
0 1000 adsorption

100 Cryocondensation
Nonregenerative

0
I adsorption I
10 100
Concentration (g / m3)

FIGURE 10.19
A guide to choosing VOC control technologies, based on flow rate and concentration only [29]. (With
permission of KPMG Management Consultants, Ottawa, Ontario.) Cryocondensation is discussed in
Problem 10.21. Nonregenerative adsorbers are placed in a landfill or incinerated, instead of being
regenerated as shown in Fig. 10.10.

10.7 CHOOSING A CONTROL TECHNOLOGY

In choosing a VOC control technology, one must consider the permitted emission
regulation, the flow rate of the gas stream, the concentration of the VOC in it, and
the special properties of the contained VOC. If the VOC is water-soluble the options
are different from when it is not If the VOC is biologically fairly inactive (e.g., most
straight-chain HCs) it will be treated very differently from a very biologically active
VOC like dioxin. Figure 10.19 shows one author's guide to choosing technology,
based only on flow rate and concentration.

10.8 SUMMARY

1. VOCs are emitted from a wide variety of sources and have a wide variety of
individual components, each with its own properties. We use VOCs mostly as
petroleum-based fuels and solvents. The majority of our VOC emissions come
from fuel and solvent usage, transportation, and storage.
2. The control alternatives are prevention, concentration and recovery, or oxidation.
3. Some of these control options can also be used for non-VOC emissions, e.g.,
incineration for odor control of H2 S, adsorption for S02 or mercury vapor, and
leakage control for any process source.