VOCs emission in petrochemical industry can be categorized into two forms of organized and unorganized emission, which contains in total of 12 emission sources. Equipment leak is a VOCs emission source that can not be ignored. According to the estimation from USA EPA, VOCs emission generated by equipment leak of the oil refining enterprise accounts for about 0.01% of crude oil processing volume, and the annual VOCs leakage can be as high as 600-700t; the average hydrocarbons emission determined by infrared remote sensing technology in several refineries in the EU is about 0.12% of crude oil processing volume, and VOCs emission from oil refining equipment leakage accounts for 20%-30% of unorganized VOCs emission; while the leakage rate of different petrochemical companies in China is about 0.06%-7.25%, with average value of 1.46%.
Leak detection and repair (LDAR) is a general technology to control unorganized VOCs emission in the worldwide, and its can be widely applied in the reduction of VOCs emission from equipment leak in petrochemical industry. USA and EU has used the LDAR technology to decrease VOCs emission since 1980-1990s, and achieved remarkable results. According to the estimation by USA EPA, the VOCs leak in oil refining companies can be reduced by 63% after implementation of LDAR.
In recent years, China vigorously promoted VOCs treatment in petrochemical industry, and the LDAR technology has become an important method to reduce VOCs emission from industrial sources. China has published a series of policies and standards to supervise and regulate the implementation of LDAR, which required the full conduction of LDAR in petrochemical national wide by the end of 2015, and the full application of LDAR technology in key enterprises, including refineries, organic chemicals, and pharmaceutical chemicals, etc. The estimation results of implementation LDAR in oil refining equipment in China show that, the VOCs emission can be reduced by 50%. However, due to the short period of implementation LDAR in China, several problems still need to be solved or improved.
Petro & Coal Chemical VOCs Treatment Technologies Forum 2017 organized by ASIACHEM will be held on Apr 26, 2017 in Haikou, Hainan, China. The expert from Qingdao Oasis Environmental & Safety Technology Co Ltd will attend the conference, and make a presentation about Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) Technology.
