Harmonized Strategies for Reducing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Carbon Dioxide: A Multi-Pollutant Analysis of Dane County, Wisconsin VOC Incinerators and their Greenhouse Gas Emission Trade-Offs.

摘要

The earth's climate is predicted to change because human activities are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHG)- primarily carbon dioxide (CO2)1. The heat-trapping property of GHGs is undisputed. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, human activities have added measurably to natural background levels of GHGs and the burning of fossil fuels is the primary source of these emissions. There is broad international agreement that reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is necessary to mitigate climate change. Some air pollution control devices use combustion to destroy chemical compounds by incineration. VOCs can be controlled by heat destruction in several ways, including thermal oxidation, catalytic oxidation, and flaring. While these methods are quite effective (about 99%), they create CO2 through the following reaction2.