Exhaust air purification plant in the production of paints and varnishes

Background information

The traditional company, Eclatin AG, produces paints and varnishes at the Lüsslingen site in Switzerland, primarily for the field of corrosion protection. In the production of special products for architecture, shipping, and mechanical engineering, various solvents are used, which are released into the air in several production halls. To avoid the emission of the solvents into the environment, the exhaust air is extracted at three different points in the halls and fed to an exhaust air purification system.

Uviblox ® FOX RF Exhaust air treatment system

Since the exhaust air is a large volume flow of up to 61,500 m³/h with a relatively low pollutant concentration of about 200 mg/m³ VOC, the regenerative photo oxidation method is used here. The pre-purified exhaust air is passed through an adsorption wheel in which the pollutants toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and various acetates are removed. The purified exhaust air is conveyed into the environment via a chimney and meets the required clean gas values of < 50 mg/m³ total carbon. The adsorbed pollutants are then desorbed by the rotating adsorption wheel and passed into the UV reactor in a secondary circuit with a reduced volume flow of 3,150 m³/h. The pollutant load is now concentrated by a factor of almost 20 and is in the range of about 4,000 mg/m³. In the UV reactor, the pollutants are partially degraded by the photooxidation and then pass into the downstream catalyst. Due to the concentration of the pollutants, the oxidation of the VOC is autothermal and requires no further supply of energy in the form of electricity or gas.