Reduction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Emissions from Laundry Dry-Cleaning by an Integrated Treatment Process of Condensation and Adsorption

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are intermittently emitted at high concentrations (tens of thousands of ppmv) from small-scale laundry shops in urban areas, affecting the urban atmospheric environment. In this study, we suggested integrating VOC treatment processes incorporating condensation and adsorption in series to remove VOCs released from small-scale laundry dryers (laundry weighing less than 30 kg). We designed two different processes depending on regeneration modes for adsorber beds; an open-circuit flow process and a closed-loop flow process in regeneration mode. Our VOC treatment processes enable sustainable operation via the regeneration of adsorbers on a regular basis. Before applying the VOC treatment processes, average concentration of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) was 4099 ppmv (12,000 ppmv of the peak concentration) during the drying operation. After applying our closed-loop flow process, TVOC concentration decreased to 58 ppmv, leading to 98.5% removal efficiency. We also verified the robustness of our process performance in a continuous operation (30 cycles) by using a process simulation program. Lastly, we observed that our integrated treatment process can contribute to reductions in ozone and secondary organic aerosol generation by 90.4% and 95.9%, respectively. We concluded that our integrated VOC treatment processes are applicable to small-scale laundry shops releasing high-concentration VOCs intermittently, and are beneficial to the atmospheric environment.