At the beginning of this year, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Hubei Province announced three mandatory local standards, including printing industry and volatile organic compound emission standard for surface coating (automobile manufacturing industry). The implementation date of the standard is set to July 1, 2020, which is the same day as the implementation date of the Standard for the Control of Fugitive Organic Compound Emission (GB 37822 - 2019).

It was noticed that the new version of Emission Standard for Volatile Organic Compounds in Surface Coating (Automobile Manufacturing Industry) in Hubei Province was postponed and will be implemented from January 1, 2021.

In this standard, the control requirements for special emission limits of "BTEX" and "NMHC" are put forward, and the index limits are consistent with the local standard of Beijing, belonging to the national limits.

The standard specifies the control and monitoring, production process and management requirements of VOC emission standard for surface coating (automobile manufacturing industry) in Hubei Province, as well as the implementation and supervision requirements of the standard.

Compared with other provincial (municipal) standards, Surface Coating Standard of Hubei Province mainly has the following characteristics:

First, considering the distribution of automobile industry in Hubei Province and key areas of ozone pollution control, the standard puts forward special emission limit control requirements for "BTEX" and "NMHC", which belongs to the national strict limit. The specific implementation time limit and scope of the special emission limit shall be specified by the municipal people's government at or above prefecture level, which can meet the differentiated requirements of air environment management in different regions of the province.

Secondly, this standard fully combines the national Standard for the Control of Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (GB 37822-2019) and puts forward requirements for the unorganized emission control of VOCs in the automobile manufacturing industry, further improving the unorganized control level of the industry.

Thirdly, aiming at the finishing paint spraying process with large amount of VOCs produced in the surface coating process of the automobile manufacturing industry, the index requirements for tail gas collection and tail gas treatment efficiency (the treatment efficiency of process tail gas treatment facilities for non-methane total hydrocarbons shall not be less than 90%) are systematically put forward, and the relevant conditions for reducing VOCs emission in the automobile industry are specified.

Specific conditions of allowable emission concentration: benzene shall be stricter than the current local standards of Guangdong, Tianjin, Chongqing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hebei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shaanxi and other provinces and cities, and methylbenzene and xylene shall be stricter than the current local standards of Guangdong, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hebei, Shaanxi and other provinces and cities; Benzene series are stricter than the current local standards in Guangdong, Chongqing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other provinces and cities; Non-methane hydrocarbon is more stringent than the current local standards in Hebei, Zhejiang, Fujian, etc.

It is reported that the original implementation date of this standard is July 1 of this year. Considering the impact of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic at the beginning of 2020, most automobile enterprises in Hubei Province are in a shutdown state, and relevant enterprises cannot purchase VOCs treatment facilities/equipment, and relevant equipment cannot be delivered and installed on time. It is difficult to complete the bid promotion and reconstruction before July 1, the original implementation date of this standard. In consideration of the actual situation of environmental protection in the whole province, in order to promote the resumption of work and production after epidemic, the implementation time of this standard is postponed to January 1, 2021 after the provincial market supervision bureau and the provincial ecological environment department study and report to the provincial people's government for approval.