China’s Guangdong province issues mandatory standards for volatile organic compound emissions from stationary sources

On June 1, 2022, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong province, China, and the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation issued a set of mandatory local standards called the Integrated Emission Standard of Volatile Organic Compounds for Stationary Pollution Source (DB44/2367-2022), which will come into effect Sept. 1, 2022. According to the preamble, all the technical provisions in the standards are mandatory. The standards cover organizational emissions and fugitive emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from stationary sources and set limits on VOC emissions from such sources. Fugitive emissions mean irregular emissions of air pollutants that are not discharged through exhaust pipes, including diffusion in open workplaces as well as emissions through gaps, vents, open doors, open windows and similar openings.