VOCs prevention and control will become one of the "protagonists" in the pollution control arena

"For a long period of time in the future, the prevention and control of VOCs will become one of the'protagonists' on China's pollution control arena, and will contribute an important force to the further improvement of air quality during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period and even carbon emission reduction

The country has launched a number of favorable policies

In order to promote and deepen the governance of VOCs, starting from the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", relevant state departments have successively issued a series of policies to promote the process of VOCs governance.

In September 2013, the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan issued by the State Council clarified that key industries such as petrochemicals, organic chemicals, surface coating, packaging and printing need to control VOCs

In July 2014, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection and other 6 departments jointly issued the "Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (Trial) Implementation Rules", covering key areas such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong.

In December 2014, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the "Comprehensive Remediation Plan for Volatile Organic Compounds in the Petrochemical Industry".

In June 2015, with the continuous improvement of emission standards, the collection of VOCs emission fees was also put on the agenda

In August 2015, the newly revised "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law" included VOCs in the scope of supervision for the first time, clearly stipulating that the production, import, sales and use of raw materials and products containing volatile organic compounds should meet quality standards or requirements.

The "2020 Volatile Organic Compounds Governance Tackling Plan" issued in 2020 pointed out that it is necessary to vigorously promote the replacement of low (no) VOCs content raw and auxiliary materials, and include enterprises that fully use low VOCs content raw and auxiliary materials that meet national requirements into the positive list and the government Green purchasing list

Not only that, in 2020, in response to the prevention and control of ozone pollution, various localities have launched summer VOCs control and declaring war on this "invisible killer"

Jiangsu Province issued the "Jiangsu Province 2020 Volatile Organic Compounds Special Treatment Work Plan", requiring all localities to complete the preparation of special ozone treatment plans, the compilation of air pollution source lists, and the formation of third-party technical support teams by the end of March; all localities must complete the key points by the end of June A thorough investigation of unorganized emissions in parks and key enterprises; in strict accordance with the requirements of the Comprehensive Management Plan for Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries, and the Unorganized Emission Standards for Volatile Organic Compounds, organize enterprises to complete VOCs governance with high standards; plan VOCs control measures during special periods, Effectively curb the slight excess of ozone and increase the ratio of good days

The leading group of the Blue Sky Project in Dalian City, Liaoning Province has issued the "Dalian City’s 2020 Ozone Pollution Prevention and Control Plan" and adopted 20 key measures from industrial source emission control, domestic source emission control, mobile source pollution control, and non-point source pollution control.

In response to the rising trend of ozone pollution, Hebei Province has strengthened the coordinated control of PM2.

"Policies have followed, and the top-level design of China's VOCs governance has been continuously improved

VOCs governance is still a shortcoming in atmospheric environmental management

It is reported that the current VOCs governance work in China is still a shortcoming of atmospheric environmental management, and there are problems such as unclear changes in VOCs emissions and insignificant comprehensive governance effects

Chai Fahe, deputy director of the National Center for Air Pollution Prevention and Control and the former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, stated that in 2019, 103 (30.

Observations found that ozone pollution was mainly concentrated in June to September, and the number of days exceeding the standard with ozone as the primary pollutant accounted for about 80% of the total number of days exceeding the standard

"In the past two years, ozone has become the second largest factor affecting the proportion of days with good air quality in the country after PM2.
5
.
" Wu Shaogui said that in key areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, and the Yangtze River Delta, ozone has even become the most important factor .
Influencing factors, and VOCs are key and important precursors of ozone and secondary aerosols, and are also closely related to PM2.
5 pollution
.

Ning Miao, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Environmental Planning, Institute of Environmental Planning, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said frankly that VOCs are currently the main controlling factor for ozone generation and have not been effectively controlled, leading to overall improvement in air quality during the 13th Five-Year Plan, but ozone pollution has become increasingly prominent
.

Research data shows that China's annual emissions of anthropogenic VOCs reached about 25 million tons in 2015, far exceeding the levels of the United States and the European Union
.
Among anthropogenic emissions, petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial coating and packaging and printing account for about 70% of industrial source VOCs emissions, and oil storage, transportation and marketing processes account for about 20% of traffic emissions
.
In addition, the problem of unorganized emissions of VOCs in China is prominent, with industrial unorganized emissions accounting for more than 60%, and unorganized emissions of small and medium-sized enterprises are generally prominent
.

In response, Ye Daiqi, Dean of the School of Energy and Environment at South China University of Technology, said that China’s VOCs emissions status has three characteristics
.
First, the total amount of VOCs emissions is huge
.
The total amount of VOCs emissions in China is not only huge (ranking the first in the world), but also has limited decline in recent years
.
From 2011 to 2017, the national anthropogenic VOCs emissions increased year by year, and the emissions from 2018 to 2019 declined.
In 2019, the total national VOCs emissions were approximately 23.
42 million tons, a decrease of only 6.
9% from 2015
.
But overall, China's total VOCs emissions still remain at a relatively high level
.
The second is the high VOCs emissions per unit output value of the industry
.
There are many industries involved in VOCs emissions in China, among which the VOCs emissions per unit output value of wood processing, organic chemicals, printing and packaging printing are among the top
.
Third, the uncertainty of emission data is large
.
The accuracy of China's VOCs emission inventory is improving year by year, but the current emissions estimation error is still large
.

In this regard, Li Tianwei, the inspector of the Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, felt the same way
.
He said that the huge amount of VOCs emissions is an important factor for China's current ozone pollution concentration to rise instead of falling
.
The current VOCs management is very similar to the particulate matter management 10 years ago
.
Many enterprises, especially some small, medium and micro enterprises, are obviously not aware of VOCs, and they are not clear about whether there are VOCs in the raw materials used by the enterprises, the links that generate VOCs, and the operation of facilities
.

"I think the treatment of VOCs is more difficult than the treatment of NOx and particulate matter in the previous stage.
It
costs money to manage what is visible, and it costs more to manage what is invisible and inaudible.
VOCs treatment investment is much greater than treatment.
The input of SO2 and NOx
.
" Li Tianwei said frankly
.

In the next five years, we must gnaw on the "hard bones" of the coordinated control of PM2.
5 and ozone

What is the effective starting point for the continuous improvement of atmospheric environmental quality during the 14th Five-Year Plan? Wu Shaogui said that during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, SO2 and NOx have been effectively controlled, and during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, PM2.
5 and PM10 pollution prevention and control have achieved remarkable results
.
In the next five years, if we want to further improve the quality of the atmospheric environment and further enhance the people's sense of gaining a beautiful ecological environment, it is necessary to nibble on the "hard bones" of the coordinated control of PM2.
5 and ozone pollution
.

Wu Shaogui said that the "14th Five-Year Plan" VOCs governance work should be carried out from four aspects
.
First, the level of national policy formulation
.
In terms of target indicators, strengthening the coordinated control of PM2.
5 and ozone is the only way to achieve a fundamental improvement in the ecological environment
.
In the formulation of the "14th Five-Year Plan" target, it is necessary to continue to significantly reduce the PM2.
5 concentration, but also to effectively curb the aggravating trend of ozone pollution; when selecting specific control indicators, in addition to continuing to use the PM2.
5 concentration reduction indicator, it is also necessary The indicators that can effectively promote the prevention and control of ozone pollution should be selected
.

In terms of control areas, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to comprehensively consider PM2.
5 and ozone pollution control requirements and regional transmission laws, and optimize and adjust key areas for air pollution prevention and control; establish adaptation to different regional pollution characteristics, emission source characteristics, and economics The management system characterized by social development promotes the improvement of the overall air quality in the region
.

In the control period, when selecting the key period of air pollution prevention and control in the "14th Five-Year Plan", it is necessary to comprehensively consider both PM2.
5 and ozone factors, and increase the intensity of seasonal control measures
.
Especially in the summer and autumn to carry out pollution prevention and control, focus on reducing VOCs emissions in heavily polluted areas, and coordinate reduction of NOx emissions.
While effectively curbing the rising trend of ozone concentration, it reduces PM2.
5 concentration in summer and autumn and promotes annual PM2.
5 concentration.
Down
.

In terms of emission reduction measures, the emission reduction of NOx and VOCs, the common precursors of PM2.
5 and ozone, is an important foothold for coordinated control, clearly put forward emission reduction requirements, adopt various emission reduction measures, and expand emission reduction target areas.
Intensify efforts to reduce emissions, especially intensify efforts to reduce VOCs, and achieve a significant reduction in VOCs emissions
.
Scientifically analyze the sensitivity of ozone pollution to NOx and VOCs emissions in different regions at different times, and use it as the basis of regional ozone pollution prevention and control strategies, and optimize the design of the medium and long-term reduction ratio of NOx and VOCs
.

In terms of policy guarantee, the national level should strengthen overall planning, increase policy coordination and guidance, promote the implementation of major emission reduction projects, and effectively reduce NOx and VOCs emissions through multi-party collaboration, especially to complement the prevention and control of VOCs in laws, standards and regulations.
Weaknesses in economic policies and other aspects
.
In terms of environmental monitoring and law enforcement, we must focus on VOCs to strengthen capacity building and make up for shortcomings to meet higher regulatory requirements
.

Second, the local government level
.
First, clarify the responsibilities of various departments in the governance of VOCs
.
Continue to maintain the "big environmental protection" good trend of multi-departmental co-management in recent years, and find a clear centralized department to be responsible for the management and control of different types of pollution sources such as industrial sources, mobile sources, agricultural sources, and living sources of VOCs
.
Second, the eco-environmental department will take the lead to do a good job of traceability, form a more authentic and reliable list of VOCs emission sources, and really figure out the bottom line
.
Finally, customized "personalized" VOCs management and control solutions from different angles and scales, including "one line, one policy," "one city, one policy," "one park, one policy," especially "one plant, one policy," to improve its pertinence And operability
.
What needs to be particularly emphasized is that it is necessary to prevent many companies from being highly similar and going through the scene in the process of preparing "one plant, one policy" emergency plan for heavy pollution weather
.

Third, the level of law enforcement supervision and monitoring
.
Integrate the monitoring methods in the existing national standards to achieve rapid and effective benchmarking of commonly used instruments
.
On the one hand, it is the unified reference material.
Through the unified reference material, it is possible to realize the comparability of the test data of various instruments, which removes a major obstacle for the application of law enforcement
.
Another aspect is the docking of monitoring methods
.
We need to accelerate the research on the accurate connection of PID equipment and laboratory classic methods (such as GC-MS and the newer FID related national standards) at the technical level, so that it can be used as the basis for judging environmental violations in the process of environmental law enforcement inspection
.

Fourth, the development of law enforcement equipment
.
Invite more qualified third-party environmental consulting services, environmental testing units and government environmental supervision departments to jointly carry out research work
.
Give full play to their respective advantages in theoretical research and practice, accelerate the improvement process of national standards and landmarks, remove obstacles for better application of testing equipment, and further improve the level of consulting services
.
Realize, do a good job in leak detection and repair (LDAR), and continue to do it well, improve the content of environmental management system certification, and cooperate with environmental law enforcement to force companies to consciously perform VOCs governance responsibilities
.

"During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, there are total emission reduction requirements for NOx, but there are no relevant requirements for total emission reduction of VOCs
.
" He Kebin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of the School of Environment of Tsinghua University, believes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the atmosphere The setting of environmental goals should emphasize the coordinated control of PM2.
5 and ozone.
The key is the coordinated reduction of NOx and VOCs, especially the reduction of VOCs
.

"It is imperative to strengthen the total amount control of VOCs during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
The total amount of VOCs control plan is set in the emission base year and benchmark value, industry emission reduction potential, total control scenario formulation, total allocation factor determination, total Systematic research has been carried out on the construction of volume allocation model and the refinement of total emission reduction targets
.
” Ye Daiqi also said that the implementation of VOCs total control is expected to achieve three changes.
By controlling the emissions of pollutants, the main responsibility of enterprises is implemented; incentives meet standards Emission companies will further reduce VOCs emissions and break the emission ceiling of meeting standards; promote the rational allocation of resources in various regions according to emission quotas, and realize the optimization of industrial structure
.

Ye Daiqi believes that the comprehensive management of VOCs during the "14th Five-Year Plan" should take the improvement of ambient air quality as the core goal and establish a sound VOCs pollution prevention and control management system
.
To achieve the goal of comprehensive management of VOCs during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, attention should be paid to management, control and construction from four aspects
.

One is to improve the VOCs management system
.
China's VOCs management system still needs to be improved.
For example, current laws and regulations lack operability clauses, local implementation of laws and regulations are different, and active species are not fully included in the standard system
.

The second is to deepen the comprehensive management of VOCs
.
Man-made emission sources of VOCs can be roughly divided into industrial, transportation and living sources, of which industrial sources (including oil storage, transportation and marketing) emit the largest amount, accounting for about 55% of the total emissions
.
Since 2018, industrial sources of VOCs emissions have been reduced.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the emission reduction of transportation and domestic sources should be further strengthened on the basis of deepening the emission reduction of industrial sources: comprehensive management of VOCs pollution in key areas, including petrochemicals Key industries such as, chemical, packaging and printing, as well as emission sources such as motor vehicles, oil storage, transportation and sales; consolidate and deepen industrial source emission reduction, strengthen source prevention and control, and implement full-process management; continue to do a good job in life source emission reduction, and strengthen building decoration , Auto repair, dry cleaning, catering and other fields to reduce emissions
.

The third is to implement total control of VOCs
.
In view of the difficulties in implementing the total control of VOCs, the institutional system should be improved, linking and integrating the total control system and the existing pollution source management system, especially speeding up the establishment of a sound emission permit system; highlighting the comprehensive management of key industries such as petrochemicals and enterprise clusters, and signing Target responsibility letter; improve supporting systems, such as total reduction verification and emission reduction performance evaluation, and other supporting technical systems; multiple measures and multiple co-governance, comprehensive emission rights trading, contract emission reduction, environmental compensation and other means, and gradually establish a market-oriented Emission reduction mechanism
.

The fourth is to strengthen the ability to supervise VOCs
.
At present, the biggest shortcoming of VOCs governance is emission supervision.
It is essential to improve the supervision ability.
The key is to improve the specific species list under VOCs supervision, gradually realize the fine management of the combination of total amount and species; realize the normalization of VOCs monitoring, such as Encourage the development of online monitoring equipment, big data platforms, etc.
through the role of the market; cultivate high-quality VOCs supervision talents, integrate supervision and assistance, and provide technical guidance to backward enterprises; accelerate the construction of a good and orderly third-party supervision market, The qualifications and norms of the three parties shall be reviewed; the contents of supervision shall be standardized, and a manual of supervision contents and quantifiable supervision evaluation indicators shall be formed
.