What

In the fields of emissions control and environmental sustainability, VOCs are becoming an increasingly more important issue. Companies often struggle to find the right balance between investment, operating cost, and system reliability. Cryogenic Condensation is a unique and proven solution for process emission streams containing VOCs.

This technology is able to achieve VOC outlet concentration levels of only a few ppm – which is in compliance with the more restrictive local regulations – while also creating a sustainable option to recover and reuse VOCs. And, unlike with thermal oxidation, there is no risk of the formation of dangerous toxins like dioxins, secondary pollutants, or greenhouse gases, because the process strictly relies on phase changes (solid↔liquid, liquid↔gas).

The principle of the technology is based on decreasing the vapor pressure to a low temperature and consequently condensing and/or freezing the VOCs by cooling the stream with liquid nitrogen or another cryogenic fluid.

Why Advantages of the technology

Low OPEX Cost: Liquid nitrogen is generally used as a cooling source for pollutant condensation. Since it is circulated in a dedicated circuit and it’s never in contact with the effluent, the nitrogen is not contaminated and can easily be reused in gaseous form inside the factory network.
Safe: With Cryogenic Condensation, safety is not an issue. Units does not present fire risk even if in presence of highly flammable compounds in the effluent or in the environment, as no ignition source is introduced in the process (as opposed to alternative process like thermal oxidation). Thanks to this distinctive characteristic unit are suitable for installation inside ATEX classified areas without impacts on project.
Flexible Solution: The plant is highly adaptable and can handle various stream flowrates and VOC concentrations. The unit can work in a wide range of operating cases with minimum impact on normal operating costs. The automatic control system, completely developed by Polaris specialists, allows the plant to easily adapt to new working conditions.
Value added: As a recuperative technology, solvents in liquid form are collected in a dedicated tank, thus allowing an easy reuse in plant processes. In the event that reuse is not an option, solvents can easily be collected as waste without generating any additional by-product or creating wastewater.
Eliminates Secondary Emissions: No secondary emissions (CO, CO2, NOx, etc.), which may require additional purification, are created in the process as the technology is based solely on the condensation of the pollutants. This saves time and money while producing superior results that are also better for the environment.

How? Typical plant configuration

Thanks to a high degree of modularization, the plant requires a limited footprint. In addition, the layout can be easily adapted to each customer’s needs in order to fit the allocated space at the production site.

The plant is skid mounted and supplied as a packaged unit.

For applications that require pre-treatment, the plant can be used in combination with carbon adsorbers, resin adsorbers, or scrubbers.

Polaris makes the preliminary process analysis and optimization in order to define and propose a more adequate system configuration and method to recover products with higher yields and quality, and at a better cost/benefit ratio.

Polaris - Cryogenic Condensation System

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