Ozone abounds, how to deal with organic waste gas?
The technical specification for the limit of harmful substances in furniture products and raw materials was recently discussed and explained at a policy briefing in the furniture research and development base in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The introduction of this technical specification is one of the important measures taken by the Shenzhen municipal government to control VOCs, and it is also a reflection of Shenzhen's efforts to combat air pollution over the years.
Over the past 10 years, the air quality in Shenzhen has continued to improve. In 2015, Shenzhen's PM2.5 concentration ranked fourth among 74 key cities in China, and its air quality ranked seventh.
However, the bad news is that the problem of ozone pollution has become prominent. In 2015, the number of days with ozone超标 in Shenzhen exceeded that of PM2.5， becoming the primary pollutant. The same year， the primary pollutant in the Pearl River Delta region also changed from PM2.5 to ozone， accounting for over 40%.
VOCs are the key precursors for ozone formation and secondary organic aerosols. Studies have shown that ozone formation in the Pearl River Delta region is controlled by VOCs.
Meanwhile， in a comparison chart of PM2.5 source analysis from 2009 to 2014 in Shenzhen， the reporter observed that the ratio of organic matter to sulfate increased. An industry insider explained that this indicates that the relative impact of organic matter in Shenzhen has increased.
Controlling VOCs is urgent.
Which industries have high emissions?
Five industries account for 80% of the emissions. Promote one industry at a time， and advance one industry as it becomes mature.
Finding the cause can lead to the right treatment. According to the 2008 atmospheric pollution source emission list of Shenzhen， VOCs emissions are highly concentrated in five industries： road transportation sources， furniture manufacturing， plastic spraying， building coatings， and electronic product manufacturing， which accounted for 80% of the city's emissions.
According to the 2014 atmospheric pollutant emission list， the total VOCs emissions in Shenzhen were 128，000 tons， a 33% decrease from 2008， with VOCs emissions in the furniture manufacturing industry decreasing by 77%. This has also led to Shenzhen maintaining the lowest ozone concentration among the cities in the Pearl River Delta region in recent years.
What are the experiences of Shenzhen in controlling VOCs?
"Promote one industry at a time， and advance one industry as it becomes mature." Tan Qingliang， deputy director of the Atmospheric Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Environmental Protection Commission， summarized that Shenzhen's VOCs control has gained this important experience after years of exploration.
It is understood that the technical processes and production costs of enterprises in various industries are similar， and different manufacturing enterprises have a serious tendency to wait and observe. Therefore， in promoting the VOCs control projects in industries such as furniture manufacturing， auto repair， auto manufacturing， container manufacturing， bicycle manufacturing， packaging printing， and electronic manufacturing， Shenzhen adopts the principle of overall promotion and breaking through one by one. The large-scale enterprises within the industry are the first to make renovations， and the demonstration effect is then promoted within the industry to minimize the phenomenon of slow or even stagnant progress caused by enterprises' mutual waiting and observing.
What to do if there are no standards?
The government and associations work together to set standards for the industry
During the promotion of VOCs control in industries， the linkage role of the Shenzhen municipal government and the relevant associations of various industries is crucial. The government provides guidelines to the associations， while the associations convey and interpret policy information to the relevant enterprises， and provide relevant information and existing problems of enterprises to the government， enabling the government to formulate policies more reasonably and effectively.
"Before carrying out VOCs control， there were gaps or limitations in environmental protection standards for some key projects in various industries， resulting in a low market entry threshold and no 'standard' for regulation in Shenzhen， which led to increasingly serious problems such as severe pollution in industry production." Tan Qingliang introduced that the lack of relevant environmental protection standards within various industries is also a major obstacle in VOCs control.
In view of this situation, the Shenzhen Municipal Government, in collaboration with relevant associations from various industries, jointly promoted the establishment of industry standards for VOCs emissions and facilitated the environmental governance and green transformation of the entire industry.
The furniture manufacturing industry is a typical example.
A survey shows that the ozone generation potential value of the furniture manufacturing industry in Shenzhen ranks first among all industries, with a contribution rate of up to 27.2%. Therefore, the furniture manufacturing industry has become one of the industries that the Shenzhen Municipal Government focuses on and deeply addresses.
Currently, the main types of coatings and adhesives used in the furniture industry are solvent-based, accounting for approximately 95%. Solvent-based coatings and adhesives release a large amount of VOCs during the furniture production process. Additionally, during the sales process, due to the short delivery period of some products and the incomplete drying of the paint film, VOCs will continue to be released.
To address the resulting environmental issues, the Shenzhen furniture industry, led by the Shenzhen Furniture Industry Association, responded to the government's No. 1 document first and drafted the first "Shenzhen Standard" for the furniture industry (hereinafter referred to as the "Shenzhen Standard"), which includes the technical specification for harmful substances in furniture products and raw materials in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the guiding technical document for the evaluation of green furniture.
On October 10, 2016, the "Shenzhen Standard" was officially approved and implemented by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and will come into effect on January 1, 2017. As a local mandatory technical specification, the "Shenzhen Standard" will in the future become a technical guideline and legal document for the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.
What are the difficulties in "oil-to-water" transformation?
High costs and lack of comprehensive and systematic construction guidance
The linkage effect of the government and various industry associations not only lies in promoting the introduction and improvement of relevant laws and regulations, but also in the implementation of specific governance work.
"Mainly source control and secondary treatment" has always been the primary principle for the Shenzhen Municipal Government to manage VOCs. According to the first VOCs pollution source census report of Shenzhen, organic solvents are the primary source of VOCs emissions in Shenzhen. Therefore, to reduce the use of organic solvents and lower VOCs emissions, "oil-to-water" transformation is inevitable.
Songbao Kingdom is one of the earliest furniture enterprises in Shenzhen to adopt the "oil-to-water" technology. The assistant of the company's chairman, Yao Peng, stated that in the long run, using water-based paint is in line with the concept of sustainable development and can enable furniture enterprises to go further and better.
However, the "oil-to-water" transformation projects are currently facing difficulties. According to Liu Lina, the deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen Furniture Industry Association, many furniture enterprises have reported that the main difficulties at present are cost issues. In the "oil-to-water" transformation cost, the cost of coatings alone has increased by about 30%, and there are also factors such as changes in coating equipment that increase costs. Secondly, there are technical issues in the construction process. Currently, most furniture enterprises do not have comprehensive and systematic construction guidance, nor do they have professional construction technicians or supporting coating production equipment, which are all direct factors restricting the use of water-based coatings.
In response to the problems and suggestions raised by enterprises, the environmental protection department is actively studying the government subsidy policy for "oil-to-water" transformation and the improvement and upgrading of relevant national standards.
Liu Lina stated that although water-based paint will also produce certain wastewater and waste gas, they can all be treated through scientific technology. However, if environmental protection manufacturing does not have the multi-faceted promotion of industry, enterprises, and the government, it is very likely to face the predicament of "inferior currency driving out superior currency".
In terms of technical support, the water-based platform has played an important role. The water-based platform was established in July 2009 as a non-profit organization, aiming to promote the development of water-based coatings in China, including promotion and application in several major fields such as furniture, transportation vehicles, containers, metals, and 3C/plastic.
According to Pei Zhonghua, the chairman of the Water-based Platform, the platform holds multiple water-basedization promotion forums across the country every year to help the upstream and downstream industries, including the government, associations, upstream suppliers of coatings, coating manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and downstream end-users, better understand and acquire water-basedization technologies. At the same time, the Water-based Platform releases various industry reports every year, striving to build a reliable information and resource sharing platform.
How do industry role models operate?
Sign a convention to initiate a new model of government supervision and industry self-regulation management
The container industry is also a major emitter of VOCs. How to maximize the control of VOCs emissions has become a difficult problem that the coating industry must solve.
To solve this problem, the Shenzhen Urban Environment Commission has repeatedly summoned Shenzhen Southern Zhongji Container Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and has also conducted technical exchanges and communications with several major global coating suppliers, the Water-based Platform, and industry associations. Under the condition of confirming that there are no technical obstacles, Shenzhen Southern Zhongji was determined to implement water-basedization transformation. Under the overall coordination of the Guangdong Provincial Environmental Protection Department, the local standard for the container industry in Guangdong Province was formulated, and the container enterprises in the province were coordinated to jointly promote water-basedization transformation.
China International Marine Container (Group) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "CIMC Group") as the leading company in the global container manufacturing industry, has fully played its leading role in the industry, through industry self-regulation and standard upgrading, cooperating with the environmental protection department to promote and lead the green transformation of the container industry.
On March 22, 2016, under the leadership of the China Container Industry Association, the signing ceremony of the "China Container Industry VOCs Governance Industry Self-discipline Convention" (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention") was held. This is a milestone event in the environmental protection cause and corporate social responsibility of the container industry in China, creating a new model of government supervision and industry self-regulation management.
At the signing ceremony, the chairman of the Container Industry Association and the CEO and President of CIMC Group, Ma Boliang, released the "Green Action Declaration of the China Container Industry Association". The declaration stated that the container industry actively cooperated with the national environmental protection new policies, through the industry self-discipline convention method, "joint commitment, joint action", to implement the new type of water-based environmentally friendly coatings nationwide within a certain period of time and under certain conditions, ensuring that the entire industry achieves a significant reduction in organic waste gas emissions by the end of 2017.
The general provisions of the Convention specifically point out that although some provisions of the Convention may exceed the requirements of the environmental protection department for this industry, the members of the Convention still voluntarily abide by the various provisions and standards proposed by the Convention.
