Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from gasoline storage and distribution facilities are coming under increased scrutiny in both the United States and Europe. The recently passed European Community stage I directive for gasoline emissions has established an emissions limit of 35 grams total organic compounds (TOC) per cubic meter gasoline loaded (35 g TOC/m(3)). Similarly, the United States Environmental Protection Agency Standard 40 CFR Part 63 has established an emission limit of 10 mg TOC per liter of gasoline loaded (10 g TOC/m(3)). The German TA-Luft standard, the most stringent known gasoline emission regulation, has set an emissions limit of 150 mg TOC (excluding methane) per cubic meter of loaded product (0.15 g TOC/m(3)). The Dow Chemical Company has successfully applied the SORBATHENE* Solvent Vapor Recovery Unit technology, a pressure swing adsorption process, to meet these increasingly stringent gasoline and light hydrocarbon vapor emission standards. Working through technology licensees (Radian International LLC, Austin Texas and McTay Engineering Bromborough, United Kingdom), a field trial demonstrating 99 + % recovery efficiencies has been conducted at a major U.S. gasoline storage and distribution terminal, and the first commercial SORBATHENE gasoline vapor recovery unit has been installed at a major storage and distribution terminal in Leeds, United Kingdom.
