VOCs The governance initiative has discovered a "new continent" - a 180 billion market that will be fully developed within three years.

Since the implementation of the "Pilot Measures for Pollutant Discharge Fees for Volatile Organic Compounds" one year ago, it has played a significant role in promoting the pollution control of VOCs. Besides the introduction and implementation of the charging measures, the formulation and implementation of relevant emission standards and local rectification plans have also promoted the treatment of VOCs, facilitating enterprises to expand the market for VOCs treatment and monitoring. Industry experts preliminarily estimate that the VOCs treatment market alone will reach 180 billion yuan in the next three years. In addition, the consulting business for VOCs treatment has gradually emerged in recent years, and third-party operation can better ensure the operation effect, which is expected to become a development trend for VOCs treatment in the future.

VOCs The governance initiative has discovered a "new continent" - a 180 billion market that will be fully developed within three years.

Recently, the China Environmental Protection Industry Association released the "2015 Development Report on the Organic Waste Gas Treatment Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). According to the association's statistics, in the past year, 15 provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) in China have formulated detailed charging regulations for VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and approximately 40 cities have implemented treatment and rectification plans.

"The introduction and implementation of VOCs governance policies, standards, and plans in various regions will give rise to a huge market for VOCs governance, monitoring (testing), and third-party services. Preliminary estimates suggest that the VOCs governance market alone will reach 180 billion yuan in the next three years," experts said.

Policy combination opens up new market for governance

Charging methods, rectification plans, and strict law enforcement promote VOCs governance

"Since the implementation of the 'Volatile Organic Compound Emission Charging Pilot Measures' one year ago, it has played a huge role in promoting the pollution prevention and control of VOCs," said Hao Zhengping, the secretary-general of the Organic Waste Gas Purification Committee of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association. The provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) have also formulated detailed charging implementation rules for VOCs emissions, and by the end of September this year, 15 provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) have released charging implementation rules for VOCs emissions.

Hao Zhengping believes that under the heavy pressure of the charging system, enterprises that were previously hesitant, especially large enterprises, have begun to fully launch VOCs emission reduction work. The emission reduction control capacity of VOCs and the clean production level of enterprises have become key factors affecting the competition in related industries. Enterprises with high clean production levels and low VOCs emissions will be able to survive, while those with high VOCs emissions will face the risk of elimination. Especially in regions with strict regulations and strict law enforcement, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing, Tianjin, Hebei, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, this trend has become a consensus.

In addition to the implementation of charging methods, the formulation and implementation of relevant emission standards and local rectification plans also promote VOCs governance and facilitate enterprises to expand the VOCs governance and monitoring market.

It is known that the national standards for atmospheric fixed-source pollutant emissions related to VOCs have expanded to 14 items. Many regions, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing, Tianjin, Hebei, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, have also promulgated relevant local emission standards for VOCs. These standards provide a basis for enterprises in various regions to promote VOCs emission reduction.

In addition, more than 40 cities have released comprehensive treatment and rectification plans for VOCs, covering key industries, key enterprises, implementation progress, funding support, and regulatory measures, etc.

With the introduction and implementation of VOCs-related emission reduction policies, standards, and plans, local governments and environmental protection departments have significantly increased supervision and penalties, especially in regions with severe air pollution such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area. The environmental protection departments have conducted strict penalties on enterprises that engage in illegal production, delay treatment, or have non-compliant treatment facilities.

"From the recent perspective, the new policies, standards, rectification plans, and the enforcement pressure have created a huge governance market capacity," said Lang Zhiqiang, the deputy secretary-general of the Organic Waste Gas Purification Committee of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association.

Progress varies in different fields

The source reduction has begun, and the governance market will reach 180 billion yuan in the next three years

Since VOCs pollution involves many pollutant types and industries, China has not yet established a source list for VOCs pollution enterprises. It is difficult to accurately calculate the total capacity of the VOCs governance market. Generally speaking, the control and governance market for VOCs can be divided into source reduction, end-of-pipe treatment, VOCs monitoring (testing), and third-party services, etc.

It is reported that in many industries, VOCs emission reduction is first required to improve the clean production level and reduce generation at the source. For example, the transformation of spray lines in the automotive and furniture production industries requires the replacement of water-based coatings; In the packaging printing industry, improvements in printing and laminating processes require the use of water-based inks and water-based adhesives, etc.

In the short term, changes and improvements in production processes, equipment, and raw materials involve significant investment; however, in the long term, many industries can promote产业升级 and significantly reduce VOCs emissions, as well as lower the cost of VOCs end-of-pipe treatment. "Due to the relatively recent start of source treatment, the factors involved in its cost are also numerous. Currently, its market space is difficult to accurately estimate," an industry insider said.

The end-of-pipe treatment market is gradually becoming clear and has a huge capacity. "Based on the situation of about 40 cities that have released VOCs treatment and rectification plans， the number of key enterprises for VOCs treatment in each city ranges from 100 to 1，000. Calculated at an average of 300 enterprises， the treatment cost for each enterprise is estimated at an average of 3 million yuan (in fact， the treatment costs for large enterprises can reach several million to tens of millions of yuan， while those for small enterprises can be around 10 million yuan). The average treatment cost for each city is estimated to be around 900 million yuan." Calculated by Professor Ma Yongliang of Tsinghua University.

If calculated based on 200 cities and regions across the country， the VOCs treatment market in the past three years will reach 180 billion yuan， with an average of about 60 billion yuan per year. In fact， the number of VOCs treatment key enterprises in many cities is far more than 300， and the actual end-of-pipe treatment market is much larger than this estimate.

The monitoring and testing market is expected to become a new hotspot

The market space may be comparable to that of the end-of-pipe treatment market

"Ho Zhiping believes that VOCs have many types (the most common ones include over 200 types)， involving a large number of industries and enterprises， and the emission conditions are complex， making regulation very difficult. Monitoring (testing) has become a key business that currently hinders VOCs treatment. (Monitoring) has become a key business for VOCs treatment. The market for VOCs monitoring (testing) mainly includes three aspects.

First， routine detection of pollution sources. Routine detection of pollution sources is mainly to provide basic data for the selection and construction of pollution control equipment and to serve the law enforcement of environmental protection departments. In the petrochemical and chemical industries， for the leakage detection and repair (LDAR technology) of unorganized emissions， it has been carried out nationwide， and it is usually completed by third-party companies. There are a large number of third-party service companies engaged in testing services. Due to the numerous detection projects， the detection cycle is usually long， and the general detection cost is relatively high.

Second， the demand for online monitoring devices of pollution sources. To effectively supervise pollution sources， online monitoring of industrial fixed sources (especially larger pollution sources) will be a future development trend. Currently， Tianjin and Shanghai have clearly stipulated requirements for online monitoring of VOCs pollution sources， while other regions have not yet clearly required it， but the requirements for online monitoring have been added in actual operations.

For general pollution sources， only non-methane total hydrocarbons can be considered for monitoring， and the cost of monitoring equipment is relatively low， about 100，000 to 200，000 yuan per unit； but for pollutants such as benzene series with higher control requirements， in addition to the monitoring requirements for non-methane total hydrocarbons， special pollution factors need to be monitored， and the investment in monitoring equipment is higher， about 300，000 to 1 million yuan per unit. Considering the large number of VOCs pollution sources， the demand for online monitoring equipment is very high.

For example， Shanghai stipulates that pollution sources with an exhaust volume of 10，000 m3/h must install online monitoring equipment. The number of enterprises announced for the first batch is about 2，000， and if only considering the monitoring equipment for non-methane total hydrocarbons， the cost of equipment is estimated to be 200 million to 400 million yuan." In fact, a single enterprise may have multiple monitoring points. If the monitoring of highly toxic pollution factors is taken into consideration, the investment in monitoring equipment would exceed 400 million yuan," Luan Zhiqiang explained. 

Thirdly, the construction of environmental air quality monitoring stations. In the conventional air quality monitoring stations, the detection items of total VOCs and non-methane total hydrocarbons should be added. This requires the modification of the detection equipment and the addition of corresponding equipment. 

Third-party services will become a development trend 

The consulting business for VOCs treatment has gradually emerged in recent years. Third-party operation can better ensure the operation effect. 

"Due to the late start of VOCs treatment work in our country, the third-party service market has not yet formed a scale. However, from the development trend in recent years, third-party services will become a development trend in the future," Luan Zhiqiang said. 

It is understood that the consulting business for VOCs treatment has gradually emerged in recent years. The VOCs treatment technology system is very complex, and the reasonable selection of treatment technologies is a major problem that troubles the owner units. Many enterprises have failed to achieve the expected treatment effect due to improper technology selection, resulting in prominent problems of repeated investment. 

"There are already some companies specializing in VOCs treatment business, mainly providing system solutions for enterprises and conducting overall planning and planning for VOCs treatment for government departments," Ma Yongliang said. 

Preliminary predictions show that the potential of the third-party operation service market for treatment facilities is huge. Generally, the operation of VOCs treatment facilities has very high professionalism requirements, and owner units lack corresponding operation personnel. Entrusting third parties to operate can better ensure the operation effect, and the national policy also encourages third-party operation services. 

In addition, centralized treatment of VOCs in areas and parks with concentrated emissions, such as centralized purification and recovery of solvents and centralized regeneration of activated carbon, involves the construction of solvent purification bases and activated carbon regeneration bases, also require third parties to be responsible for management and operation. Third-party operation services will become a development trend in VOCs treatment in the future. 

(Source: China Environmental News, Zhang Jie)