How to Calculate Volatile Emissions

Depending on the nature of a business, it may be required for the owner to report to the government the amount of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions being released. This effort by the government is to help maintain air quality and to help control pollution within a predetermined standard. VOCs become trapped within the first level of the ozone, the one closest to the earth's surface, and can attribute to poor health and vegetation. Calculating VOC emissions is a straightforward process.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

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Instructions

• 1

  Find the "VOC Content Factor" of the product in use. The factors are listed for many chemical products, such as paint and pesticides. The product that is used will have a list of active ingredients that is assigned a factor number. Write down the content factor for every active ingredient in the compound.

• 2

  Multiply each of the content factors by the application rate. The application rate is how much of the product that is used for an area. For an example, a gallon of paint may be spread across 100 square feet of wall. Multiply each content factor number by 1 gallon per 100 square feet of wall. The result will be the VOC application rate. Write these numbers down.

• 3

  Look up the emissions rating for each of the active ingredients. You can find the rating from the manufacturer, or your local department of professional regulation. The emission rating should be in a percentage, which needs to be re-figured into a proportion. To do this, divide the emission rating by 100.

• 4

  Multiply the VOC application rate calculated in step 2 by the emission rating from step 3 for each of the active ingredients. This number is called the emission rate, not to be confused with the emission rating. Write down the results.

• 5

  Multiply the emission rate from step 4 by the numbers of acres that is to be fumigated, or area that is to be covered. Do this calculation for all of the active ingredients in the product. The result will be the total VOC emissions for each of the active ingredients.

• 6

  Add the VOC emissions that were calculated in step 5. This figure will be the combined total of VOC emissions for all of the active ingredients in the product.