Reduction of vinyl chloride monomer emissions

Until now, exhaust gas containing vinyl chloride monomer has been treated using a temperature swing adsorption (TSA) system that uses activated carbon for adsorption and recovery. Since activated carbon has a large amount of heat to adsorb, a large volume of diluted gas must be treated, and since the equipment is large and uses a lot of steam during desorption, energy consumption is also large.

In addition, the equipment has been suffering from corrosion due to chlorine.

In parallel with measures to prevent corrosion of the equipment, we studied alternative equipment, and found that a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system using hydrophobic silica gel adsorbent from SYSTEM ENG SERVICE could be applied to the adsorption of VCM. After a detailed study, it was determined that the PSA could be applied to this process as well, and the PSA was put into full-scale operation in fiscal 2011, resulting in a steam reduction of 3,700 tons compared to the previous year and a reduction of VCM emissions from the adsorption facility by more than 90%.

In the PVC industry, combustion is the mainstream method of exhaust gas treatment, but we were able to introduce a very compact exhaust gas treatment system with a lower environmental impact.