Abstract:
In order to grasp the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pollution in the printing industry, and further scientifically and rationally promote the reduction of VOCs in the printing industry, bags method-flame ionization detection and portable non-methane total hydrocarbon tester were used to test the VOCs emissions of 25 typical printing companies in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Based on the results of the analysis of the VOCs content of 21 types of raw materials containing VOCs as well as the VOCs concentration of the corresponding exhaust gas in each usage procedures, the VOCs content levels of different types of raw materials and the VOCs exhaust gas concentration levels of various pollution-producing processes were determined. The results showed that ink VOCs accounted for 0.05%-76.9%. The proportion of samples that met the standards of GB 38507-2020 Limits of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Printing Ink were 98.3%, 85.7%, 66.7% and 100.0% for offset printing inks, gravure printing inks, flexographic inks and screen printing inks, respectively, and the VOCs content varied greatly. The mass ratios of VOCs of ountain solution, cleaning agent, adhesive and varnis were 0.4%-45.0%, 3.0%-98.7%, 0.1%-60.0% and 0.1%-50.0%, respectively. The VOCs content of solvent-based samples was significantly higher than water-based and UV samples. From the perspective of the level of VOCs produced in the production process, the VOCs produced in the drying process of the same process were generally higher than the printing, cleaning, and dampening processes. The VOCs content of solvent-based inks, adhesives, and varnishes was 100.0-5000.0 mg/m
3, which was significantly higher than other process types (10.0-500.0 mg/m
3). The dry composite process had a higher VOCs pollution concentration of 300.0-1000.0 mg/m
3, but the VOCs concentration of wet composite, solvent-free composite, and co-extrusion was less than 30.0 mg/m
3. This study showed that processes such as offset printing, flexo printing, screen printing, laminating and glazing could achieve lower VOCs product concentration (≤50.0 mg/m
3) through source substitution. When solvent-based ink was replaced with water-based ink, the VOCs concentration of the gravure printing was 50.0-500.0 mg/m
3. Therefore, effective treatment measures are still needed.