Development of NMVOC Emission Inventory Associated with Downstream of Petroleum Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish the non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emission inventory with “Korean speciation” from 9 sources associated with downstream of petroleum industry over South Korea. This study focused on solvent use (i.e., paint applications and offset-printing) and fugitive emission sources (i.e., oil refining, naphtha cracking, aromatic reforming, polymerization processes of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP), and gasoline storage of oil storage facilities and gas stations). Such sources are the main components of emission sources related to downstream of petroleum industry. The newly estimated emission from 9 sources was 319,153 ton/yr higher than the emission from corresponding sources of Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS). Especially, the emission from oil refineries was considerably increased from 56,021 to 284,071 ton/yr. To investigate the chemical speciation over South Korea, the composition of 30 compounds was obtained via HS-GC-MS analysis on solvent samples with respect to 15 applications. Also, chemical profiles for the fugitive emission sources were estimated based on material balance via chemical process model (i.e., PRO/Ⅱ) simulation. The results showed that the emissions of major chemical compounds from solvent use were xylene, toluene, and ethylbenzene, while emissions from fugitive emission sources were mainly composed of propane, n-butane, C5 alkane, C6 alkane, ethylene, propylene, and xylene. Based on Koreanspeciated NMVOC emission inventory of solvent use, ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP) were also calculated. The analysis of OFPs and SOAFPs showed that xylene, toluene, and ethylbenzene were the major precursors of ozone and SOA formation in South Korea. This study suggests that the chemically speciated NMVOC emission inventory for South Korea is important to ⅰ) control individual compounds, ⅱ) establish air quality policies, and ⅲ) produce the input data for air quality prediction modeling.