Solvent Recovery and VOC Control Systems
topic
Solvent recovery from coating dryer exhaust air uses condensation through chilled coil condensers that cool solvent vapour below its dew point for liquid recovery at 70 to 90 percent efficiency, adsorption on activated carbon beds with steam regeneration for low solvent concentration streams, or thermal oxidation at 700 to 800 degrees Celsius that destroys VOC by combustion when solvent recovery is economically impractical, with system selection based on solvent concentration, volume, and value.
Role
Manages the environmental and occupational health obligations of solvent-based coating operations by recovering organic solvent for reuse or destroying it before atmospheric emission, with solvent recovery providing economic return through recovered solvent value that offsets installation cost while thermal oxidation represents the compliance cost of non-recoverable or uneconomically dilute solvent streams that must be destroyed to meet emission limit values.