Handbook of Solvents - George Wypych - ChemTech - Ventech!

962 George Wypych
Table 14.18.2. Reported solvent transfers from the organic chemical industry in 1995
[Data from Ref. 2]
Solvent Amount, kg/year Solvent Amount, kg/year
allyl alcohol 210,000 ethylbenzene 980,000
benzene 420,000 ethylene glycol 6,800,000
n-butyl alcohol 1,500,000 hexane 770,000
sec-butyl alcohol 1,700,000 isopropyl alcohol 85,000
tert-butyl alcohol 12,500,000 methanol 23,000,000
carbon disulfide 96,000 methyl ethyl ketone 800,000
carbon tetrachloride 12,000 methyl isobutyl ketone 390,000
chlorobenzene 130,000 N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone 110,000
chloroform 92,000 methyl tert-butyl ether 210,000
cresol 430,000 pyridine 33,000
m-cresol 720,000 tetrachloroethylene 138,000
o-cresol 57,000 toluene 4,400,000
p-cresol 870,000 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene 8,000
cyclohexane 900,000 1,1,1-trichloroethane 290,000
cyclohexanol 3,700 trichloroethylene 42,000
dichloroethane 230,000 xylene 4,000,000
1,2-dichloroethylene 1,000 m-xylene 51,000
dichloromethane 870,000 o-xylene 460,000
N,N-dimethylformamide 370,000 p-xylene 1,700
14.18 ORGANIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
George Wypych
ChemTec Laboratories, Inc., Toronto, Canada
The chemical industry operates about 1000 plants in the USA with 53 companies producing
50% of the total output of $65 billion in sales and employing 125,000 people. There are
point source solvent emissions (e.g., laboratory hoods, distillation units, reactors, storage
tanks, vents, etc.), fugitive emissions (e.g., pump valves, flanges, sample collectors, seals,
relief devices, tanks), and secondary emissions (waste water treatment units, cooling
towers, spills). Organic liquid wastes containing solvent are generated from processes such
as equipment washing, surplus chemicals, product purification, product reaction,
housekeeping, etc.