Identification of VOCs distribution in a petroleum terminal and minimization of hazardous levels on health

Abstract

Volatile Organic compounds (VOCs) can be found both naturally and manmade environments. Petroleum Industry is a major contributor to the atmospheric VOCs. In this study, a detailed field survey is carried out to investigate the distribution status of VOCs within a petroleum terminal in Sri Lanka. The entire terminal area was identified as operational and non-operational areas according to the zonal categorization of British Standards. The VOC levels of technically selected 99 nos. of locations were measured using a factory-calibrated portable VOC meter. All measurements were obtained when wind speed was less than 1 ms-1 to enhance the reliability of measurements. The entire data was analyzed using the Microsoft Excel data analysis tool. The mean value of the non-operational area was 3 ppm which was below the Central Environmental Authority accepted level of 5 ppm for any operations within Sri Lanka. The operational area was further divided into two different series of data because it was observed as distinct two histograms during the analysis. Those were for the exact source of VOCs and the rear vicinity of VOCs (beyond 2 m from the exact source). The average value of VOC in the rear vicinity was 6.9 ppm and it was 43.2 ppm for the exact locations of the VOC sources. Control perspectives were discussed for operational and non-operational areas separately following the available literature. The control perspectives were adsorption, biofiltration for the non-operational area, and catalyst oxidizer and membrane separation for the operational area