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SOURCE ASSESSMENT: POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
Citation:
Khan, Z. AND T. Hughes. SOURCE ASSESSMENT: POLYVINYL CHLORIDE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-78/004I.
Description:
This report summarizes data on air emissions from the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry. PVC is manufactured by 20 companies at 35 plants. Each plant uses one or more of four possible polymerization processes: (1) suspension polymerization, (2) emulsion polymerization, (3) bulk polymerization, and (4) solution polymerization. A representative PVC plant was defined to assess the severity of emissions from this industry. Source severity, defined as the ratio of the time-averaged maximum ground level concentration of a pollutant to a hazard potential, was calculated for 16 chemical species emitted from a representative plant. The two largest severities were 970 for vinyl chloride and 1.9 for PVC. Control technology for hydrocarbons includes adsorption, absorption, refrigeration, incineration, stripping, purging of equipment with inert gas or water, and control of fugitive emissions.