Pollution prevention in vacuum processes

The gaseous emissions from vacuum systems often contain volatile organic co mpounds (VOCs) - one or more of which may be regulated as Hazardous Air Pol lutants (HAPs) under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Typically, regulate d emission sources will require greater than 98% control of using an end-of -pipe abatement or recovery technology. VOCs from vacuum generation are exp ensive to control and increase the investment and operating cost of the vac uum system. When noncondensibles or inerts are present, the amount of vocs emitted to the environment will increase dramatically. This article discuss es approaches which process and project engineers can apply to reduce or el iminate vacuum system emissions. Actual case histories are included which r eflect the range of solutions that are being applied.