SEMINAR ON MONITORING AND PREVENTION OF AIR POLLUTION BY VOLATILE ORGANINC COMPOUNDS (VOC)
The Ministry of Environment is in the final stages of publishing emission standards for air pollutants that will determine the maximal permitted concentration of a pollutant in a funnel thus enabling effective supervision of emissions by industries. The standards refer to three groups of pollutants: particles, organic materials and inorganic materials. Some 100 materials are included in the organic materials group, some of them volatile (called VOC for Volatile Organic Compounds), and some not. These materials react to sunrays and create a photochemical smog which is famous for its high oxidation ability and its harmful effects on human health, vegetation and materials. Volatile fuels, use of organic solvents, and surface painting constitute the main source for volatile organic compounds in the air.
The seminar, held at the Technion on June 27th, 1996, dealt with three main aspects of the subject:
a) Clean Air Law and emission standards in the world and in Israel (M. Gerber, Ministry of Environment).
b) Means and methods for measuring and monitoring organic materials in funnels and open air (S. Lerman, Ben Gurion University; Y. Maman and R. Hashmonai, Technion).
c) Installations for the prevention of organic materials’ emission into the air (Y. Goldschmid, Planning and Environmental engineering Company; R. Colton Shapira, Hadera Urban Union for environmental quality; H. Meisels, Ecotop; V. Regingano, Aircraft Industry; E. Vick, Dur Company, Germany).
The seminar was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, the Sam Neaman Institute at the Technion, and the Israel Society for Ecology and Environment Quality Science. Organizers of the seminar are: Dr. Y. Goldschmid, Profesosr Y. Maman and Ing. David Kohn. The 100 participating engineers and Scientists represented the chemical industry, oil refineries, painting installations and others. The participants were greeted by Professor Y. Maman, Chairman of the Israel Society for Ecology and Environment Quality, Professor Noam Gavrieli, Chairman of the Haifa Urban Union for Environment Quality. Mr. A. Vardi, Director General of the Ministry of Environment, and Professor I. Saginer, Director of the Samuel Neaman Institute. The Seminar’s lectures will be published by the Neaman Institute.
The seminar was the second in a series of seminars dealing with measuring and preventing air pollution. It was preceded by a seminar which dealt with particle materials in the air. Today’s seminar is an additional step in bringing the State of Israel closer to adhering to standards of the Western world aimed at safeguarding the quality of the environment.
