A huge amount of organic solvents and solvent vapors are released into the atmosphere. They come from manufacturing sites such as chemical plants, electronic component plants, and metal equipment plants, as well as from consumer uses such as gas stations, dry cleaning plants, and painting. In recent years, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have been conveniently used in electronic component factories, have become a particular problem in relation to global environmental issues. The emission of CFCs vapors into the atmosphere has been resolved by replacing them with other solvents. However, efforts to reduce emissions of other organic solvent vapors are also needed from the perspective of environmental issues and resource conservation.
At present, adsorption with activated carbon is the most mainstream separation method for recovering organic vapors from exhaust gas. However, adsorption has some problems, such as the need for regeneration system and the large size of the equipment. As the development of simpler and more energy-efficient organic vapor recovery and recycling technology is expected, the recovery method using membrane separation operation has become an attracting choice.
By supplying ambient air to the silicone hollow fiber membrane module “NAGASEP” and depressurizing the permeate side, VOCs in the environment can be concentrated and recovered. As an actual application, NAGASEP has been put to practical use in a metering device that collects gasoline vapor leaked at gas stations when refueling. Gasoline vapor leaked into the atmosphere is suctioned through a double-tube refueling nozzle, then concentrated by a hollow fiber membrane, and finally collected as liquid gasoline. The system is also being considered for practical use in the recovery of organic vapors such as hexane discharged into the environment from factories and as a monitor of odors (VOC) in the ambient air. If you wonder whether NAGASEP could be a solution for your problem, feel free to contact us and have a discussion.
