1. Chemical production industry involving VOCs materials
1.1 Petrochemical/chemical industry
◆Direction of substitution of raw and auxiliary materials:
Use raw and auxiliary materials with low (no) VOCs and low reactivity; accelerate the green substitution of aromatic hydrocarbons and halogen-containing organic compounds (solvents).
◆Advanced process/equipment improvements:
Adoption of production technologies such as full containment, continuity and automation, as well as high-efficiency processes and equipment (e.g., fully-automatic containment centrifuges, under-discharge containment centrifuges, etc.); and implementation of upgrading and reconstruction of production installations and piping systems that are seriously polluted in the enterprise and have a long service life.
2. Industries that use products containing VOCs
2.1 Packaging printing industry
◆Direction of substitution of raw and auxiliary materials:
Choose water-based, radiation-curing, plant-based, etc. low VOCs content of oil and water-based, hot-melt, solvent-free, radiation-curing, modified, biodegradable and other low VOCs content of the adhesive; the use of low VOCs content, low reactivity of the cleaning agent.
The VOCs content of raw and auxiliary materials such as ink/adhesive/cleaning agent used by the enterprise after replacement shall meet the requirements of the “Limit of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Content in Ink” (GB38507-2020), “Limit of Volatile Organic Compounds Content in Cleaning Agent” (GB 38508-2020), and the “Volatile Organic Compounds Limit in Adhesive” (GB 33372-2020).
◆Advanced process/equipment improvements:
Adoption of special ink adjusting room and centralized ink supply system, closed ink delivery system, automatic closed cycle ink supply method; LED printing or waterless printing technology, full automation of printing unit; Adoption of adhesive-free laminating technology (solvent-free laminating technology).
2.2 Industrial Coating Industry
◆Direction of substitution of raw and auxiliary materials:
Adoption of coatings with low VOCs content such as water-based, powder, high-solids, solvent-free, radiation-curing, etc.; adoption of water-based, radiation-curing, powder and other coatings and water-based adhesives, etc. to replace traditional solvent-based coatings and adhesives; and adoption of cleaning agents with low VOCs content and low reactivity.
The VOCs content of raw and auxiliary materials such as paints/coatings/adhesives/cleaning agents used by enterprises after replacement shall meet the requirements of Technical Requirements for Paint Products with Low Volatile Organic Compound Content (GB/T 38597-2020), Limits for Volatile Organic Compound Content of Cleaning Agents (GB 38508-2020), and Volatile Organic Compound Limits for Adhesives (GB 33372-2020).
◆Advanced process/equipment improvements:
The use of automatic reciprocating spraying or robot spraying the external surface of the device, intelligent spraying equipment spraying; the use of high-flow low-pressure spraying process (HVLP), electrostatic high-speed spinning cup / disk spraying, electrostatic-assisted compressed air spraying or airless spraying and so on.
1. Relative lack of policy/normative/regulatory support and limited promotion efforts
1.1 Lack of whole-process planning and system-wide design
Low VOCs/waterborne coatings industry is vigorously emerging due to VOCs management and control, but the whole industry lacks its own systematic planning and design.
Taking the coating production industry as an example: the lack of a coating industry development plan that is compatible with the green alternative use of coatings, the insufficient research and development capability of green coatings, and the limited variety of green raw and auxiliary materials that can meet the source substitution of VOCs have constrained the source substitution of VOCs at the use end. At the same time, there is also a lack of unified planning and overall layout for VOCs source substitution at the coating use end, and the industry as a whole has less successful experience in promoting it.
1.2 Lack of process-wide policy standards and norms
Coatings, inks, adhesives and other industries issued relevant low VOCs standard basis, there are still numerous industries related to the standard basis is missing; and the corresponding detection / monitoring methods are not complete.
Take the detergent industry as an example: “Detergents Volatile Organic Compounds Content Limits” (GB 38508-2020) stipulates the limit requirements of relevant specific pollutants, and also published the corresponding test methods, but the text mentions a limited number of types of substances, and how to identify other substances without analytical methods; the same about the VOCs material (10%) identification is also missing the relevant guidance methods, and so on.
1.3 Lack of synergy throughout the process
Source substitution is a systemic solution that involves the entire process of raw and auxiliary materials, production processes/procedures, product quality, etc., and there is a lack of synergistic methods of promoting systemic solutions.
Take painting industrial enterprises as an example: the economic authorities still lack the overall promotion of the greening of coatings, in the circulation area there is still a need for product quality supervision departments to strengthen the supervision of coating products, and in the process of carrying out the transformation of VOCs source substitution by coating-using enterprises, the related transformation of production lines also requires the economic authorities to strengthen policy support and guidance.
1.4 Lack of supervision throughout the process
Supervision is an important part of source-replacement reform, and at present, the entire supervisory system is imperfect, and the corresponding supervision system is virtually absent.
Coatings/adhesives production-oriented enterprises, for example: some VOCs product manufacturers are not clear about the relevant national standards and requirements, and still produce products with high VOCs content; in the circulation area, products with high VOCs content still occupy a large market; in the use of the field, some enterprises are not sound in the purchase of raw and auxiliary materials, use of accounts and other information, the VOCs content of the unclear, and some enterprises are not able to provide the test reports of the raw materials used.
2. Industry/market/product and other industry characteristics, low willingness to substitute
2.1 Most industries are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with little willingness to transform themselves.
Painting / printing industry, for example: many of the painting / printing industry, are small and medium-sized enterprises, the use of all the more crude production processes, replaced by automation, continuous devices, the amount of investment is large, far more than the transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises budget, the overall willingness of the enterprise transformation is not strong.
2.2 Low/no VOCs raw materials and auxiliary materials replacement market is immature, the product application scene is narrow
Take coating production-oriented enterprises as an example: low/non-VOCs raw materials and auxiliary materials substitution, at present, only in part of the industry (painting) operational scenarios to form a scale, can be replaced by a relatively small number of industries/scenarios; due to the limited market share and immaturity, which further affects the production-oriented enterprises for the low/non-VOCs raw materials and auxiliary materials, R & D investment and so on.
2.3 “Inertia” of industry technology, resistance of related personnel, etc.
Take the printing industry as an example: the use of dedicated ink mixing room and centralized ink supply system, closed ink delivery system, the use of automatic closed loop ink supply, etc., the most direct impact is the operability of the production workers. The use of dedicated ink mixing room, means that you need to go to a specific location to adjust the ink, breaking the “inertia” of the ink mixing method, the worker’s resistance is stronger.
3. Technical immaturity of equipment/processes/products, etc., makes it difficult at the implementation level
3.1 Substitution of low/no VOCs raw materials can affect product quality
Furniture manufacturing enterprises, for example: if the primer spraying process using water-based coatings and other low VOCs content of raw and auxiliary materials, water-based solvents will penetrate into the wood structure of the deeper layers, resulting in a larger moisture content of the surface of the wood, the primer drying time becomes longer, the product quality declines; topcoat spraying process if the use of water-based coatings and other raw and auxiliary materials with a low VOCs content of the source of the substitution, easy to cause the surface gloss of the product is poorer, hardness decline, affecting the product’s sales. Sales.
3.2 Changes in raw and auxiliary materials, directly leading to changes in process routes/equipment and technical difficulties
Take chemical industry production enterprises as an example: methylene chloride/benzene etc. are common solvents, diluents and synthetic raw materials in chemical enterprises, when used as solvents: a large number of substitution of methylene chloride/benzene will involve the use of production equipment (distillation, distillation, separation equipment), and may be a large change to the existing process; when used as a raw material for chemical reaction, it will involve the change of the entire synthetic process route. When used as a feedstock for chemical reactions, it involves changes in the entire synthesis process route, and the corresponding realization path requires a large number of technological breakthroughs.
3.3 Substitution of raw and auxiliary materials with low/no VOCs, increase in investment and operation costs, etc.
To industrial coating industry materials: coating process if the use of water-based coatings and other low VOCs content of raw and auxiliary materials after the source replacement, because the paint contains more water-based, not easy to dry. In order to achieve product quality/drying effect, it is necessary to consume more energy, etc.; at the same time, for most of the cost of water-based coatings are higher than oil-based coatings.
