Development of an environmentally acceptable volatile organic compounds recovery and reuse system based on vacuum spray flash with dibasic acid esters as absorbents.

We used dibasic acid esters as the absorbent for a volatile organic compounds (VOC) recovery and reuse system geared mainly toward VOCs from painting and presswork. The system consists of three elements: absorption using dibasic acid esters, separation by vacuum spray flash method, and recovery by condensation. The concentration of both ethyl acetate (EtAc) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) decreased around 90% at room temperature. Vacuum spray flash was found as a useful process for cost-effective and energy-effective VOC removal system. The difference in the dissolubility parameters (Hansen constant) between dibasic acid esters and VOCs and the boiling point of VOCs was the main contributor to the separation behavior.