The "invisible killer" of smog, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) pollution, has been neglected in the governance efforts.
"Why is it that although various regions have strengthened air pollution control in recent years, the results achieved do not match our expectations?" said Wang Jinglong, the former deputy inspector of the Environmental Protection Department of Shanxi Province, at the 12th Forum on Environment and Development jointly organized by the China Environmental Protection Association and the United Nations Environment Programme on December 11. "This is because the current methods for controlling traditional coal-burning pollution have been continued, while the control of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) has been neglected."
"Compared with the severe air pollution in some areas of Shanxi Province, which is mainly caused by smoke, dust, and SO2, and has not led to the widespread haze as in many regions in recent years, it is reasonable to believe that the increase in VOCs and their long-term accumulation have caused the frequent occurrence of haze," said Wang Jinglong. VOCs are a key factor in the formation of photochemical smog, and photochemical smog is precisely the key factor in the formation of haze.
"Why does haze form so quickly when there is no wind?" Wang Jinglong analyzed. On the one hand, the VOCs emitted by pollution sources, along with industrial exhaust gases, dust, and natural dust, undergo a photochemical reaction to form secondary pollutants, such as photochemical smog, which remain in the air for a long time, providing conditions for the formation of haze. On the other hand, the heat generated by the photochemical reaction, combined with the heat emitted by industrial facilities, to some extent disrupts the condensation conditions for clouds to turn into rain or snow, resulting in more fog and less rain or snow. In addition, some secondary pollutants have water-absorbing properties, and some photochemical reactions can form fine water droplets, which also exacerbate the formation of thick fog.
It is reported that VOCs are key precursors for the formation of PM2.5 and ozone, and they have physiological toxicity, posing a huge threat to the environment and human health. According to the research fellow of the Atmospheric Environment Quality Management Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Duan Guangming, China's annual VOCs emissions are approximately 20 million tons. "If they can be reduced to less than 10 million tons, it would be more ideal for reducing haze," he said. According to the latest data from the China Environmental Planning Institute, China's VOCs emissions are approximately 30 million tons.
VOCs have been listed as a major mandatory reduction target in China's "13th Five-Year Plan". According to the deputy research fellow of the Environmental Protection Department of the Energy and Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Guo Tingzheng, industry is the key sector for VOCs emissions, accounting for more than 50% of the total emissions. Among them, 11 key industries, including petroleum refining and petrochemicals, coatings, inks, adhesives, pesticides, automobiles, packaging printing, rubber products, synthetic leather, furniture, and footwear, account for more than 80% of the industrial total emissions.
To further control VOCs emissions, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly formulated the "Action Plan for Reducing Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries" in July this year. It requires that "by 2018, the emissions of VOCs in the industrial sector should be reduced by more than 3.3 million tons compared to 2015, and the use of solvents, adhesives, inks, adhesives, and tire products containing benzene, toluene, xylene, dimethylformamide (DMF), etc., should be reduced by more than 20% compared to 2015, with the proportion of low (or no) VOCs green pesticides, adhesives, inks, adhesives, and tire products reaching 70%, 60%, 70%, 85%, and 40% respectively."
However, experts present at the meeting also pointed out that the prevention and control of VOCs pollution involves many industries, and there is a lack of management experience, making the governance difficult. Whether for the management departments or the polluting industries, this is a new problem. Due to the presence of 100+ common compounds in VOCs, with significant differences in physical and chemical properties, involving hundreds of industries, complex emission conditions, and numerous dispersed emission points and severe unorganized emissions, it is difficult to conduct effective collection centrally. "Usually, multiple technologies need to be adopted for comprehensive treatment, and due to the flammability and explosiveness, the treatment facilities require a complete safety system design," said researcher Luan Zhiqiang from the Institute of Chemical Defense of the People's Liberation Army.
Luan Zhiqiang believes that improving the level of clean production and reducing the usage and emissions of organic solvents at the source have huge potential for emission reduction. In the long run, this is the fundamental way to achieve VOCs emission reduction. Just for the coatings industry alone, the country consumes 15 million tons of coatings annually, and the VOCs emissions reach over 6 million tons. Some provinces and cities have already promoted the use of environmentally friendly coatings by law, such as Shenzhen banning the use of oil-based coatings, and Beijing also mandatorily stipulates that furniture production should use water-based paint.
Nie Lei, the director of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Institute of Beijing Environmental Protection Science Research Institute, said that Beijing combines the emission intensity of industries and their contribution to the local economy to analyze and find that the three major industries of metal sheeting (color steel plates), furniture manufacturing, and can-making have the highest VOCs emission intensity per 100 million yuan of output value, which are 51.6 kilograms, 35.2 kilograms, and 20.3 kilograms respectively. Based on this, a series of industrial policies have been adopted to eliminate and relieve backward production capacity.
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