Mass balance of VOC emissions

Among the target molecules responsible for air pollution, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been the focus of particular attention since the early 1990s. Indeed, these molecules, emitted naturally or through human activities – whether domestic, industrial, agricultural or due to transport – have a strong impact on human health and/or an effect on the environment, and in particular on air quality. While some VOCs can cause respiratory illnesses or even cancer in sensitive populations (children, pregnant women, the elderly), or in workers in systematic contact with solvent-laden environments, their photochemical reactivity in the atmosphere has also been demonstrated. They are thus responsible for radical reactions under the effect of sunlight (UV) (leading in particular to the disruption of the Chapman cycle), producing high concentrations of ozone in the troposphere [G 1 700][G 1 835][J 3 928] .

A proactive environmental protection policy has led countries to sign conventions and treaties on air quality and atmospheric pollution. The implementation of these international commitments has resulted in the control and reduction of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions through legislation on gaseous emissions. European directives setting VOC reduction targets _NM (non-methane VOCs) call for France to limit emissions to 901 kt by 2029 and 759 kt by 2039. French regulations (decree of February 2, 1998, amended – last amendment of September 6, 2021) impose both maximum concentrations and mass flows, by compound, in gaseous emissions. To implement a policy of overall VOC minimization on an industrial site, the first essential step is to determine the discharge rates and to identify and quantify the VOCs involved, in other words to carry out a VOC mass balance.

After definitions, a presentation of the overall trend in VOC _NM emissions in France and a few regulatory elements, this article proposes, in the case of VOC _NM emissions, an approach for carrying out a simple material balance. Two approaches...