# CCDC — Industrial VOC Recovery Systems in India > CCDC (Commercial, Chemical And Development Company), Chennai, India, designs and builds industrial VOC (volatile organic compound) and solvent recovery systems for Indian plants. Its systems use Genosorb®, a liquid absorbent made by Clariant, to capture solvent vapour from process vents and return it to production as reusable liquid — 95–99.9% recovery — instead of destroying it in a thermal oxidiser. Key facts: - Company: CCDC — Commercial, Chemical And Development Company, Chennai, India; 45 years of process engineering experience. Headed by Dr D M Mohunta, a chemical engineer with about five decades of experience. - Technology: Genosorb® physical absorption (polyethylene glycol ethers by Clariant A.G.). Continuous absorb → strip → condense → recycle loop at ambient temperature. CCDC engineers the plants; it does not make the absorbent. - Performance: designed for 95–99.9% recovery; >99% achieved on acrylonitrile and methylene dichloride; 100 Nm³/hr to 100,000+ Nm³/hr; mixtures of up to six solvents; a carbon disulphide plant scaled up 500× from pilot. - Cost (2004 Indian study, Dr D M Mohunta): acetone recovery cost ₹2.27/kg by absorption vs ₹5.70 by refrigeration and ₹7.47 by activated-carbon adsorption. - Industries: pharmaceuticals and APIs, chemicals, flexible packaging and gravure printing, paints and coatings, petrochemicals, adhesives, automotive, battery and semiconductor manufacturing. - Coverage: plants anywhere in India; every system designed, engineered and fabricated in India and delivered skid-mounted. - Scope: vapour/vent-gas recovery (solvent evaporated into air or nitrogen) — not distillation of spent liquid solvent. - Contact: voc@ccdcindia.com · +91 98401 42990 · 41/42/3 1st Main Road West, Shenoy Nagar, Chennai 600030, India - Website: https://www.vocrecovery.in · Parent company: https://www.ccdcindia.com - Last updated: 2026-10-04 --- ## Industrial VOC Recovery Systems — A Circular Economy URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in > CCDC designs industrial VOC recovery systems in India using Genosorb® absorption: 95–99.9% of the solvent in process vents recovered and reused, for pharma, chemical, packaging and printing plants. An industrial VOC recovery system captures solvent vapour from reactors, dryers, printing hoods and tanks and condenses it back into liquid solvent that can be reused — instead of burning it in a thermal oxidiser or losing it to the air. CCDC’s systems use Genosorb® physical absorption, designed for 95–99.9% recovery and engineered around each plant’s solvents, flows and concentrations. Headline figures: 95–99.9% recovery efficiency · 45 years of process engineering experience · 50+ industrial sites studied across India · 500× pilot-to-commercial scale-up. --- ## How Genosorb VOC Recovery Works: Process & Design URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-process > How Genosorb® absorption VOC recovery works step by step — absorber, stripper, condenser and absorbent recycle — and how CCDC engineers each system around the solvent stream. ### How the process works 1. **Gas enters absorber** — VOC-laden process gas is fed into the absorption column at ambient or below-ambient temperature. 2. **Genosorb absorbs VOCs** — The liquid absorbent contacts the gas and dissolves the VOC out of it, driven by Genosorb's high affinity for the target compound(s). 3. **Clean gas exits** — Treated gas — now within emission-compliant VOC levels and incidentally dehydrated — is released or sent onward. 4. **Rich solvent regenerated** — The VOC-loaded absorbent is pumped to a stripper column and heated, driving the VOC back out of solution. 5. **Solvent condensed** — The now-concentrated VOC vapour leaving the stripper is easily condensed into recoverable liquid product. 6. **Genosorb recycled** — The lean, regenerated absorbent is cooled and returned to the absorber, with heat exchanged between rich and lean streams and pressure energy recovered via turbine pumps. ### Engineering design variables - **Solvent selection:** Matching the Genosorb grade or blend to the specific VOC mixture, since affinity varies by compound class. - **Temperature:** Absorber and stripper each run at temperatures chosen to maximise absorption on one side and clean regeneration on the other. - **Pressure:** Absorption and stripping can run at different pressures as well as temperatures — sometimes both — to optimise separation. - **VOC concentration:** Inlet concentration drives sizing decisions; very low concentrations at high volume call for a rotary-concentrator pre-stage. - **Heat integration:** Exchanging heat between the VOC-rich stream heading to the stripper and the lean stream returning cuts net energy purchased. - **Energy recovery:** Pressure energy between the two columns can be recovered with turbine pumps, further lowering operating cost. --- ## VOC Recovery Technologies Compared: Absorption vs Adsorption vs Oxidation URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-vs-thermal-oxidation > Compare absorption, activated-carbon adsorption, refrigeration and thermal oxidation for VOC recovery, with operating costs in ₹/kg from Indian case studies. ### Non-destructive recovery technologies - **Adsorption:** gas adsorbed onto activated carbon (or zeolite / molecular sieve) beds. Near-100% removal possible; ketones and mixed streams risk bed fires; cyclic operation with at least two beds; high maintenance; large footprint. - **Refrigeration and cryogenic condensation:** cools the gas until the VOC condenses. Best for high-concentration, intermittent streams such as tank farms and loading stations; smallest footprint. - **Physical absorption (Genosorb®):** a high-boiling absorbent dissolves VOC at ambient conditions and releases it in a stripper for condensation and reuse. No carbon beds; works on polar and non-polar VOCs and on CO₂, H₂S and SO₂. - **Destruction (thermal / catalytic oxidation):** Thermal or catalytic. Must operate below LEL, always require supplemental fuel (NG or LPG), and need thermal recovery — recuperative (40–70%) or regenerative (up to 95%). Achieves 95%+ destruction, but increases CO₂ / GHG output and eliminates any chance of solvent recovery. ### Comparison table | Parameter | Refrigeration | Absorption (Genosorb) | Adsorption | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Best suited application | Higher concentration streams | Low concentration, from ~0.5% | Low concentration, from ~0.5% | | Recovery mechanism | Condensation | Separation and condensation | Separation and condensation | | Operating temperature | Very low | Room temperature and above | Room temperature and above | | Pressure drop | Very low | Low | High | | Vacuum required | No | Yes | Yes | | Mode of operation | Fully automatic, continuous | Fully automatic, continuous | Automatic, batch process | | Maintenance | Low | Low | High | | Power cost | On demand only | Continuous, even at no load | Continuous, even at no load | | Installation cost | Very low | Low | Large | | Concentration measurement | Not required | Required, outlet gas | Required, outlet gas | | Footprint | Smallest | Small | Large | | Steam | Not required | Required | Required | | Inert gas | Not required | Special cases only | Required for safe operation | | Carbon replacement | Not required | Not required | Periodic replacement | | Solvent replacement | Not required | Required | Not required | | Safety profile | Intrinsically safe | Safe | Requires precautions | ### Operating cost per kg recovered: two Indian cases *Operating cost, ₹ per kg of solvent recovered (90% recovery)* | Stream | Absorption | Refrigeration | Carbon adsorption | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Acetone — 487 m³/hr at 123 g/m³ | 2.27 | 5.70 | 7.47 | | Ethyl acetate / toluene / MEK / cellosolve — 9,500 m³/hr at 97 g/m³ | 7.30 | — | 10.6 | From “VOC recovery from gaseous streams” by Dr D M Mohunta, CCDC (2004). Costs are in 2004 rupees and show how the technologies compare with each other, not today’s prices. [Read the original study](https://www.ccdcindia.com/articles/voc-recovery-gaseous-streams/). In both cases absorption had the lowest operating cost. More on the acetone case in [acetone recovery unit](https://www.vocrecovery.in/acetone-recovery-unit), and on mixed printing solvents in [flexible packaging and gravure printing](https://www.vocrecovery.in/flexible-packaging-solvent-recovery). ### Which technology fits which stream - **Absorption (Genosorb®)** suits continuous streams from low to medium concentration, mixed solvents, ketones and wet gas — the absorbent also dries the gas. - **Refrigeration and condensation** suit high-concentration, intermittent streams such as tank farms and tanker loading. - **Carbon adsorption** can reach very low outlet levels, but ketones and mixed streams risk bed fires and the beds need regeneration and replacement. - **Thermal oxidation** destroys the solvent, needs supplemental fuel and adds CO₂ — nothing is recovered. - **Very dilute, very large streams** are best concentrated first with a [rotary concentrator](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-rotary-concentrator), then recovered. --- ## Solvent Recovery from Vent Gas URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-solvent > How Genosorb® absorbents recover solvent vapour from process vents and dryers — not distillation of spent liquid solvent — with absorbent properties, grades and built-in dehydration. > **Vent-gas recovery, not solvent distillation** This page is about recovering solvent that has evaporated into air or nitrogen — from vents, dryers and hoods — and turning it back into liquid. A solvent distillation unit (“solvent recycler”) purifies used liquid solvent; the two do different jobs and can work together. See [how Genosorb VOC recovery works](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-process). Most of the physical absorbents are specific for a few VOC or for gases like CO₂, H₂S etc. Apart from single solvents recent work is reported on use of deep eutectic solvents (DES) and ionic liquids; they are still to reach commercial scale. The desired properties would be high affinity for the VOC to be recovered, high boiling point so that separation can be done easily and the product will not be contaminated, low viscosity so that heat and mass transfer is not hindered, and low heat capacity to lower the energy needs. A low surface tension is desirable as it makes for easy spreading — a larger surface area is obtained in the mass transfer equipment. High selectivities can be an advantage as separation of VOC is possible. VOCs to be recovered have wide-ranging chemical and physical properties such as boiling point and polarity — there may not be a single "one size fits all" solvent. Among glycol ethers, Clariant A.G. has developed a range of polyethylene glycol ethers under the brand Genosorb® — mixtures of varying chain lengths tuned for polar and non-polar VOC as well as gases like CO₂, H₂S and SO₂. Various inhibitors prevent oxidation and give a long life. All Genosorbs have good affinity for water, so the treated gas gets dehydrated. ### Genosorb® properties | Property | Value | Why it matters | | --- | --- | --- | | Boiling point | >250 °C | Absorbent stays liquid through stripping — no loss alongside the VOC | | Vapour pressure | <0.002 mbar | Minimal absorbent carryover into the treated gas stream | | Density at 20 °C | 0.93–1.03 g/cm³ | Stable across operating temperature range | | Viscosity at 20 °C | 4–7 mm²/s | Moderate — keeps heat and mass transfer efficient | | Specific heat | 2.13–2.26 J/g·K | Well-understood thermal behaviour for heat-integration design | | Thermal conductivity | 0.149–0.169 W/m·K | Supports efficient inter-stream heat exchange | | Annual make-up loss | ~2% of inventory | Inhibitors prevent oxidation; long service life | ### Genosorb® grades | Grade | Target | Examples | | --- | --- | --- | | Genosorb 300 | Polar solvents | Alcohols, ketones, esters, ethers | | Genosorb 1843 | Non-polar solvents | Aliphatics, aromatics, chlorinated | | Genosorb 1753 | H₂S / CO₂ | Biogas upgrading, sour gas | | Genosorb 1900 | SO₂ | Sulphur dioxide capture | --- ## Low-Concentration VOC Recovery: Rotary Concentrator URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-rotary-concentrator > Recover solvent from dilute, high-volume vents (10,000–200,000 m³/hr at a few hundred ppm): a rotary concentrator raises VOC concentration up to 30× and cuts equipment cost 75–85%. It frequently happens that the concentration of VOC is very low and the volume is high — such as in flexible packaging, gravure printing, paint booths, battery and semiconductor manufacturing. Volumes may range from 10,000 m³/hr to 200,000 m³/hr with concentrations of only a few hundred to a few thousand ppm. The equipment shown in Fig. 1 becomes extremely large and the process uneconomic. Recourse is made to a device called a rotary concentrator to increase the concentration to a viable level. The main equipment is a large, very slowly rotating wheel with a honeycomb structure filled with zeolite or activated carbon. The VOC-laden gas passes through the cooled face of the rotor where VOC is adsorbed and clean air exits to the chimney. A small portion (3–10%) of the air is heated and passed back through the rotor as the desorbing fluid — it emerges with a high concentration of VOC and is then cooled before going to the Genosorb recovery system. The concentration increase can be as high as 30×, limited to about 50–60% of the LEL for safety. A 100,000 Nm³/hr flow is thus reduced to 5,000–7,000 Nm³/hr at the Genosorb plant inlet, cutting equipment cost by 75–85% as well as operating cost — as shown in the table below. ### Utilities with and without a rotary concentrator | Utility | Without concentrator | With concentrator | Saving | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Steam demand | 1,250 kg/hr | 180 kg/hr | 86% | | Cooling water | 200 m³/hr | 35 m³/hr | 83% | | Refrigeration load | 200 TR | 60 TR | 70% | | Genosorb make-up | 80 g/hr | 20 g/hr | 75% | --- ## Centralized VOC Recovery for Multiple Process Sources URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-system-integration > One VOC recovery unit for multiple emission sources — reactors, dryers, printing and coating lines — with lower capital cost, automatic operation and simpler upkeep. One recovery unit can serve several emission sources — reactors, dryers, printing and coating lines — through a common header. One CCDC installation serves 27 emission points. - **Lower capital cost:** One recovery train serving several sources costs less than duplicating equipment at each point of emission. - **Centralised recovery:** Solvent from multiple process steps is captured and regenerated in one place rather than scattered across the plant. - **Automatic operation:** The combined system runs on automation rather than requiring manual intervention at each source. - **Simplified maintenance:** One system to maintain instead of several smaller, dispersed ones. - **Plant-wide emission control:** Demonstrated to maintain compliance even as individual feed flows and concentrations vary significantly across connected sources. --- ## The Business Benefits of VOC Recovery URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-benefits > The economic and environmental benefits of VOC recovery: solvent returned to production, lower operating cost than oxidation, ~1.3 kg CO₂-eq avoided per kg recovered, and circular-economy and ESG gains. ### Why recovery beats destruction - **Lower raw material costs:** Recovered solvent goes straight back into production instead of being bought again — on mixed-solvent streams, worth thousands of rupees per hour. - **Lower operating cost:** No supplemental fuel of the kind an oxidiser burns. Genosorb make-up loss is as little as 2% of inventory a year. - **Lower greenhouse gas emissions:** Recovery avoids the CO₂ that destruction generates — a documented net ~1.315 kg CO₂-equivalent avoided per kg of VOC recovered. - **Resource conservation:** Solvent that would be lost to the air or turned into waste heat stays in productive use. - **Less waste:** The same approach treats solvent-laden effluent — COD cut by over 99%, from ~200,000 to under 1,000 in pilot runs. - **ESG performance:** Measurable cuts in emissions and solvent use feed directly into environmental, social and governance reporting. ### A circular economy for solvents Recovered solvent goes back into the same process it came from. What used to be a one-way emission — bought, used, lost to the air or burned — becomes a closed loop, with only a small top-up of fresh solvent. --- ## Acetone Recovery Unit: Absorption vs Carbon Adsorption URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/acetone-recovery-unit > Recover acetone from dryer, reactor and process vents with Genosorb® absorption. Why acetone is hard on activated carbon, how the unit works, and an Indian cost study: ₹2.27/kg vs ₹7.47/kg. ### Where acetone vapour is lost Acetone is the first solvent on our [list of recoverable VOCs](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-industries) for a reason: it is used in large quantities and it evaporates easily, so a great deal of it leaves plants through vents rather than in product. Typical sources are: - Tray, vacuum and fluid-bed dryers and centrifuges in pharmaceutical and fine-chemical plants - Reactor and distillation vents during charging, heating and nitrogen purging - Cellulose acetate, adhesive and coating lines - Storage-tank breathing and tanker loading Acetone is inexpensive per litre, but vent losses add up quickly. In the 2004 study below, a single 487 m³/hr vent carrying 123 g/m³ of acetone was losing about ₹185 lakh of solvent a year. ### Why acetone is hard on activated carbon - **Heat and fire risk.** Ketones such as acetone release a lot of heat when they adsorb on carbon, which can create hot spots and bed fires. - **Batch operation.** Carbon beds work in cycles, need at least two beds, steam or vacuum regeneration and periodic carbon replacement. - **Water in the product.** Acetone mixes completely with water, so steam-regenerated carbon gives an acetone–water condensate that usually needs distillation before reuse. Absorption avoids all three: the acetone dissolves into a liquid at ambient temperature, the process runs continuously, and there is no carbon to heat up or replace. See the full [comparison of VOC recovery technologies](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-vs-thermal-oxidation). ### How a Genosorb® acetone recovery unit works 1. **Vent gas enters the absorber** — Acetone-laden gas from dryers, reactors or tanks is collected and fed to the absorption column at ambient or below-ambient temperature. 2. **Genosorb absorbs the acetone** — Genosorb 300, the grade made for polar solvents such as ketones, alcohols and esters, dissolves the acetone out of the gas. 3. **Clean gas leaves** — The treated gas is released within its emission limit. 4. **Acetone is stripped and condensed** — The loaded absorbent is heated in a stripper; the acetone vapour that comes off is condensed into liquid acetone. 5. **Absorbent is recycled** — The regenerated Genosorb is cooled and returned to the absorber, with heat exchanged between the hot and cold streams to save energy. More detail on the absorber, stripper and heat integration is on [how Genosorb VOC recovery works](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-process). ### Operating cost: absorption vs refrigeration vs carbon adsorption *Acetone vent: 487 m³/hr, 123 g/m³, 28 °C, 90% recovery* | Technology | Operating cost (₹ per kg recovered) | | --- | --- | | Absorption (Genosorb®) | 2.27 | | Refrigeration | 5.70 | | Activated carbon adsorption | 7.47 | From “VOC recovery from gaseous streams” by Dr D M Mohunta, CCDC (2004). Costs are in 2004 rupees and show how the technologies compare with each other, not today’s prices. [Read the original study](https://www.ccdcindia.com/articles/voc-recovery-gaseous-streams/). On this stream, absorption cost less than a third as much as carbon adsorption for every kilogram of acetone recovered. ### When the acetone concentration is low Some acetone vents are large and very dilute — tens of thousands of cubic metres an hour at a few hundred ppm. For these, a [rotary concentrator](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-rotary-concentrator) is added ahead of the absorber. It raises the concentration up to 30×, so the recovery plant can be a fraction of the size. ### What we need to size an acetone recovery unit - Vent gas flow in m³/hr, its range, and whether it is continuous or batch - Acetone concentration, and any other solvents in the stream - Gas temperature, pressure and moisture - Operating hours per year and what you pay for acetone - What the recovered acetone will be used for If you do not have these figures, CCDC can measure your vent losses on site. Start with a [feasibility study](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-feasibility-study). ### Questions #### Can recovered acetone be reused in our process? In most cases, yes. The condensed acetone can go back into the same process, into a less critical step, into equipment cleaning, or be sold. The achievable purity depends on what else is in the vent, and CCDC confirms it in the feasibility study. Pharmaceutical plants should also follow their own quality procedures for reusing recovered solvent. #### Is absorption safe for acetone streams? Absorption takes place in a liquid at ambient temperature, so there are no carbon beds to heat up — the main fire risk when ketones are adsorbed on activated carbon. As with any solvent system, CCDC designs the plant to keep vapour concentrations safely below the lower explosive limit. #### What recovery efficiency can an acetone recovery unit achieve? Genosorb systems are designed for 95–99.9% recovery. The target for each plant is set by its emission limit and the value of the acetone; the 2004 cost study on this page was based on 90% recovery. #### Can the same unit handle acetone mixed with other solvents? Yes. Genosorb absorbs both polar and non-polar solvents, and CCDC’s mobile pilot plant has run on mixtures of up to six solvents at once. The absorbent grade or blend is matched to the mixture. --- ## Pharmaceutical Solvent Recovery for Indian API Plants URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/pharmaceutical-solvent-recovery > How Genosorb® absorption recovers solvent vapour from API and bulk-drug plant vents — reactors, centrifuges, dryers and tanks — and helps plants meet CPCB's draft 95% solvent-recovery guideline. ### Where solvent is lost in an API plant Bulk-drug and API plants use large volumes of solvent, and much of what is not recovered as liquid leaves as vapour through vents such as: - Reactor vents during charging, heating, distillation and nitrogen purging - Centrifuges, Nutsche filters and filter-dryers - Tray, vacuum, rotary-cone and fluid-bed dryers - Solvent storage tanks and receivers, through breathing and filling losses - Vacuum-pump exhausts and scrubber outlets These vents are many, small and intermittent, and the solvent and flow change from batch to batch. That makes pharma vent losses hard to see and easy to underestimate — and every kilogram lost is a kilogram bought again. ### Solvents commonly recovered Methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, acetone, MIBK, ethyl acetate, toluene, hexane, heptane, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, methylene dichloride and other chlorinated solvents. See the full [list of 43 recoverable VOCs](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-industries), or the dedicated page on [acetone recovery](https://www.vocrecovery.in/acetone-recovery-unit). ### Compliance: CPCB’s draft guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry In early 2025 the Central Pollution Control Board invited comments on draft environmental guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry. As published for comment, they propose that plants: - Recover up to 95% of spent solvent in captive units - Keep total solvent losses within 5% of solvent inventory - Control VOCs with devices such as scrubbers, condensers and absorbers - Run a leak detection and repair (LDAR) programme We are not aware of a final notification as of October 2026, so treat these as proposals. Solvent recovery and VOC control can also appear as conditions in a plant’s Environmental Clearance or Consent to Operate, so check your own consent documents. More on [VOC norms in India](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-emission-control). ### How Genosorb® absorption helps a pharmaceutical plant - **One unit for many vents:** A common header can collect vents from reactors, centrifuges, dryers and tanks across a production block and send them to one [centralised recovery unit](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-system-integration), instead of a device on every vent. - **Handles changing solvent mixes:** Genosorb absorbs both polar and non-polar solvents, and the grade or blend is matched to your solvent list — useful when products and solvents change from campaign to campaign. - **Copes with batch swings:** Multi-source recovery systems have maintained compliance even as individual feed flows and concentrations vary widely, as they do when batches start, purge and stop. - **Safe with ketones and chlorinated solvents:** There are no carbon beds to overheat with ketones, and chlorinated solvents are recovered as liquid instead of being burned into acid gases in an oxidiser. - **Solvent back, not burned:** Recovered solvent reduces fresh purchases and the CO₂ an oxidiser would add — about 1.3 kg CO₂-equivalent avoided per kg recovered. - **Measured before it is designed:** CCDC can measure losses at each vent and give you a kg/day figure with a rupee value before any plant is designed. ### Reusing recovered solvent under GMP Recovered solvent can be reused in the same step, in an earlier or less critical step, for equipment cleaning, or sold. Reuse in API manufacture must follow the plant’s quality system, which usually means a specification and testing for the recovered solvent and a documented approval. CCDC designs the recovery plant around the purity your quality team needs. ### Pharma plants across India CCDC works from Chennai and supports plants anywhere in India, including the API and bulk-drug clusters around Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vapi–Ankleshwar–Dahej and Baddi. Every system is designed, engineered and fabricated in India and delivered skid-mounted for outdoor installation. ### Questions #### Does CPCB require pharma plants to recover 95% of their solvent? CPCB’s draft guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry, published for comment in early 2025, propose recovering up to 95% of spent solvent and keeping losses within 5% of inventory. We are not aware of a final notification as of October 2026. Your Environmental Clearance or Consent to Operate may already contain solvent-recovery conditions. #### Can one recovery unit serve several reactor and dryer vents? Yes. Vents from across a block can be collected into one header and treated in a single Genosorb unit. CCDC has designed single installations serving more than twenty emission points. #### Our reactors already have vent condensers. Why add absorption? Vent condensers work well on concentrated vapour but lose efficiency as nitrogen and air dilute the stream, which is common during purging and drying. Absorption keeps working at low concentrations, so many plants keep their primary condensers and add a central absorption unit for the solvent that gets past them. #### We do not know how much solvent we lose. Where do we start? CCDC can visit the plant, measure VOC emissions from each vent and give you a kg/day figure with a rupee-value loss estimate. That measurement is the basis for a feasibility study. --- ## Solvent Recovery for Flexible Packaging & Gravure Printing URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/flexible-packaging-solvent-recovery > Recover ethyl acetate, toluene, IPA and other ink and laminating solvents from rotogravure printing and laminating lines with a rotary concentrator and Genosorb® absorption. ### Where the solvent goes Rotogravure and flexographic inks and solvent-based laminating adhesives carry large amounts of solvent, which evaporates in the drying hoods. To keep the hoods safely below the lower explosive limit, it is exhausted with very large volumes of air — typically 10,000 to 200,000 m³/hr at only a few hundred to a few thousand ppm. Unless it is recovered, solvent bought every month goes straight up the stack. ### Typical solvents Ethyl acetate, ethanol, n-propyl acetate, isopropanol, MEK and toluene, often as a blend that changes from job to job. Genosorb absorbs both the polar and non-polar members of these blends. ### Concentrate first, then recover 1. **Collect the hood exhaust** — Exhaust from printing and laminating dryers is ducted to the recovery plant. 2. **Concentrate it** — A slowly rotating [rotary concentrator](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-rotary-concentrator) wheel adsorbs the solvent and sends clean air to the stack. A small stream of hot air (3–10% of the flow) desorbs the wheel, carrying the solvent at up to 30× the original concentration. 3. **Recover it** — The concentrated stream goes to the Genosorb absorber and stripper, and the solvent is condensed as liquid. 4. **Reuse it** — The recovered solvent is dehydrated and can be re-blended to the original formulation, used as diluent or wash solvent, or sold. Concentrating first means a 100,000 Nm³/hr exhaust reaches the recovery plant as 5,000–7,000 Nm³/hr, cutting equipment cost by 75–85% and operating cost with it. ### Utilities with and without a concentrator *Utility demand for the same recovery duty, with and without a rotary concentrator* | Utility | Without concentrator | With concentrator | Saving | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Steam | 1,250 kg/hr | 180 kg/hr | 86% | | Cooling water | 200 m³/hr | 35 m³/hr | 83% | | Refrigeration | 200 TR | 60 TR | 70% | | Genosorb make-up | 80 g/hr | 20 g/hr | 75% | From CCDC’s design comparison on the [rotary concentrator](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-rotary-concentrator) page. ### Operating cost on a multi-solvent stream *Ethyl acetate / toluene / MEK / cellosolve: 9,500 m³/hr, 97 g/m³, 90% recovery* | Technology | Operating cost (₹ per kg recovered) | | --- | --- | | Absorption (Genosorb®) | 7.30 | | Activated carbon adsorption | 10.6 | From “VOC recovery from gaseous streams” by Dr D M Mohunta, CCDC (2004). Costs are in 2004 rupees and show how the technologies compare with each other, not today’s prices. [Read the original study](https://www.ccdcindia.com/articles/voc-recovery-gaseous-streams/). The solvent lost from this stream was valued at about ₹271 lakh a year in the same study. ### CCDC installations in printing and packaging - **Gravure printing:** a high-speed line exhausting more than 100,000 Nm³/hr with a shifting blend of ethyl acetate, ethanol, n-propyl acetate, MEK, toluene and isopropanol. The recovered mixed solvent is dehydrated and re-blended to the original formulation. - **Flexible packaging:** laminating-machine-scale installations recovering single or mixed solvents from high-speed packaging lines. See all [VOC recovery case studies](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-case-studies). ### Questions #### Our dryer exhaust is very dilute. Is solvent recovery still worth it? Usually, yes — that is what the rotary concentrator is for. It raises the solvent concentration up to 30× before recovery, so a large, dilute exhaust can be treated with a much smaller and cheaper Genosorb plant. #### Can recovered solvent go back into our inks and adhesives? Often. On CCDC’s gravure-printing installation the recovered mixed solvent is dehydrated and re-blended to the original formulation. Where that is not practical it can be used as diluent or wash solvent, or sold. CCDC confirms the achievable quality in the feasibility study. #### Does recovery work when the solvent blend changes from job to job? Yes. Genosorb absorbs both polar and non-polar solvents, and recovery systems have kept working as feed flows and concentrations vary widely between sources. #### Should a printing plant choose solvent recovery or an RTO? A regenerative thermal oxidiser destroys the solvent, needs supplemental fuel and adds CO₂. Recovery returns the solvent to use. Which is better depends on the value of your solvent, its mix and your operating hours — the feasibility study compares them for your line. --- ## Effluent Water COD Reduction URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-effluent-cod-reduction > Cut the COD of solvent-laden effluent by over 99%: solvents are air-stripped from the water, concentrated and recovered with a Genosorb® plant. Effluent waters generated from many synthetic organic chemical production processes have high COD content. The COD content is mainly due to high concentrations of solvents in the effluent stream. The solvents are stripped with air giving a low-concentration VOC stream, that is fed to a Genosorb plant or rotary concentrator and the solvents recovered. The gases coming from the concentrator can also be incinerated at a low cost. High air volumes are needed for efficient stripping. Efficient recovery is possible using a rotary concentrator followed by a Genosorb plant. Pilot result: 7 solvents; COD reduced from 200,000 to <1,000 (>99.5%). --- ## Compressed Biogas from Raw Biogas URL: https://www.ccdcindia.com/compressed-biogas-from-raw-biogas/ > Upgrade raw biogas to +99% pure compressed biogas with Genosorb® absorption, recovering H₂S as elemental sulphur. Scalable from 50 to 40,000 m³/hr, made in India. The same Genosorb® absorption technology upgrades raw biogas to +99% pure compressed biogas (CBG), recovering H₂S as elemental sulphur; plants from 50 to 40,000 m³/hr, operating at 4–7 bar. Full article by Dr D M Mohunta: https://www.ccdcindia.com/compressed-biogas-from-raw-biogas/ --- ## Industrial VOC Recovery by Industry URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-industries > Industrial VOC recovery for chemical, pharmaceutical, flexible packaging, printing, paint, automotive and battery plants in India, with the full list of 43 recoverable solvents. Industries served: Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Flexible Packaging, Paint, Automotive, Petrochemicals, Printing, Semiconductors, Adhesives, Battery Manufacturing, Specialty Chemicals, Agri-processing, Coatings, Ink Manufacturing, Textiles. Organic VOCs recoverable with Genosorb: Acetone, Dioxalane, Dioxane, MIBK, Cyclohexane, Gasoline, Hexane, Heptane, Mineral spirits, Acrylic acid, Ethyl acetate, Isopropyl acetate, Petroleum solvents, Tetrahydrofuran, MEK, Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Methanol, Ethanol, Isopropanol, Vinyl acetate, n-Butanol, Iso Butyl Benzene, Diethyl ether, Carbon disulphide, Acetonitrile, Ethyl Cellosolve, Hydrogen sulphide, Acetic acid, Isobutylene, Dimethyl sulphide, Acrylonitrile (ACN), Acetaldehyde. Halogenated compounds: Chlorethylene, Methyl chloroform, Methylene Dichloride, Ethylene dichloride, Monochlorobenzene, Carbon tetrachloride, VCM, Methyl Iodide, Chlorofluorocarbons. More than 50 industrial sites studied across India; streams handled singly or as mixtures of up to six components. --- ## VOC Emission Norms in India & Recovery Options URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-emission-control > How VOC emissions are regulated in India — consent conditions, CPCB's draft pharma guideline proposing 95% solvent recovery and the vapour-recovery mandate for fuel terminals — and why recovery beats destruction. ### How VOC emissions are regulated in India India has no single national emission limit covering every VOC from every industry. In 2004 CCDC noted there were hardly any VOC standards beyond a few compounds such as benzene and hydrocarbons. Control still comes mainly through three routes: - **Consent to Operate.** Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, every plant needs consent from its State Pollution Control Board, and consent and Environmental Clearance conditions can require specific VOC-control or solvent-recovery measures. - **Sector guidelines.** CPCB’s draft guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry (comments invited until 5 February 2025) propose recovering up to 95% of spent solvent, keeping losses within 5% of solvent inventory, VOC controls such as scrubbers, condensers and absorbers, and leak detection and repair. See [pharmaceutical solvent recovery](https://www.vocrecovery.in/pharmaceutical-solvent-recovery). - **Petroleum vapour recovery.** Following a Supreme Court order in March 2023, CPCB requires vapour recovery systems at high-volume fuel outlets in large cities and at fuel storage terminals. In March 2025 the National Green Tribunal upheld ₹1 crore of environmental compensation imposed on BPCL for delays at its terminals. ### What this means for your plant Requirements are moving from simply limiting emissions towards recovering solvent — a target stated as a percentage of solvent recovered cannot be met by burning it. A recovery system meets the emission requirement and pays back through the solvent it returns, where a thermal oxidiser only adds fuel cost and CO₂. The [technology comparison](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-vs-thermal-oxidation) shows the operating costs side by side. > **Regulatory summary as of October 2026** This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current notifications and your own consent conditions, or ask us to review them with your VOC streams in a [feasibility study](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-feasibility-study). Sources: - [CPCB invites comments on draft guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry (Lexplosion)](https://lexplosion.in/cpcb-invites-comments-on-draft-guidelines-for-the-pharmaceutical-industry-in-india-till-5th-february-2025/) - [Supreme Court on vapour recovery systems at petroleum retail outlets (Verdictum)](https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/supreme-court/installation-of-vapour-recovery-system-at-retail-petroleum-outlets-1467142) - [BPCL statement on vapour recovery systems, 13 April 2026](https://www.bharatpetroleum.in/images/files/13042026-official-statement-bharat-petroleum-corporation-limited-bpcl-vapour-recovery-systems.pdf) - [VOC recovery from gaseous streams, Dr D M Mohunta (2004)](https://www.ccdcindia.com/articles/voc-recovery-gaseous-streams/) --- ## Industrial VOC Recovery Case Studies URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-case-studies > Industrial VOC and solvent recovery projects by CCDC: methanol, acrylonitrile, hexane, CS₂, methylene dichloride, gravure printing and paint lines, with flows and recovery rates. ### Methanol Recovery 27 emission points · 200–700 Nm³/hr · 90% recovery Attached to a batch organic synthesis plant. Recovered product runs 90–92% methanol purity and is recycled without distillation, at an operating cost of a few rupees per kilogram. ### Acrylonitrile Recovery >99% recovery · 950–1,100 t/yr recovered A process plant consuming and recycling hundreds of tonnes per day. The system achieved over 99% recovery across multiple equipment emission points. ### Hexane Recovery 100 Nm³/hr · outdoor installation Acidic hexane emissions from a phase-transfer reactor. Installed as an outdoor unit mounted on the first floor — compact footprint on a working plant. ### Carbon Disulphide (CS₂) 20,000–45,000 Nm³/hr · 90% recovery · 500× scale-up Proven first on a pilot plant, then scaled up 500× to commercial capacity. CS₂ at 5–15 g/Nm³ alongside 2–5 g/Nm³ H₂S; CS₂ and H₂S recovered separately. ### Methylene Dichloride (MDC) 950 kg/hr · 99% recovery · skid-mounted Plant skid-assembled and shipped to site for installation outside the process plant. Achieved 99% recovery of the full stream. ### Gravure Printing 100,000+ Nm³/hr · mixed solvent blend High-speed operation with a shifting mix: ethyl acetate, ethanol, n-propyl acetate, MEK, toluene, isopropanol. Recovered mixed solvent dehydrated and re-blended to original formulation. ### Flexible Packaging Laminating machines · single and mixed solvents Laminating-machine-scale installations recovering single or mixed solvents from high-speed packaging lines. Detailed economics are on the rotary concentrator page. ### Paint Shops Automotive · household · appliance paint lines Rotary concentrator paired with Genosorb absorption. Recovered solvents reused in paint formulation, as diluent, or as cleaners — an alternative to the incineration route common in Europe. ### COD Reduction 7 solvents · COD reduced from 200,000 to <1,000 Effluent water carrying high chemical-oxygen-demand loads was treated by stripping the solvent with air, then recovering it through a rotary concentrator and Genosorb plant. --- ## VOC Recovery: Frequently Asked Questions URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-faq > Answers to common questions about industrial VOC recovery in India: cost and payback, absorption vs carbon adsorption, CPCB norms, which solvents can be recovered and how a project starts. ### Cost and payback #### How much does an industrial VOC recovery system cost in India? It depends mainly on the gas flow, the VOC concentration, the solvents involved and how much of them must be recovered, so there is no catalogue price. A feasibility study gives you a technology recommendation with a rough cost range for your stream. As one reference point, a 2004 CCDC design for vapour recovery at a tanker-loading facility was estimated at ₹400 lakh. #### What is the payback on VOC recovery? Payback comes from the value of the solvent recovered, so it is fastest with valuable solvents, higher concentrations and long operating hours. In CCDC’s 2004 tanker-loading study, the ₹400 lakh plant would recover about 1,460 kl of hydrocarbon a year — worth more than its capital cost every year at the then price of ₹30 a litre — for about ₹8.75 lakh of power. #### What does it cost to run a VOC recovery plant? In Dr D M Mohunta’s 2004 study, absorption recovered acetone for ₹2.27 per kg, against ₹5.70 for refrigeration and ₹7.47 for activated carbon adsorption; on a mixed ethyl acetate / toluene / MEK stream it cost ₹7.30 per kg against ₹10.6 for adsorption. These are 2004 rupees, useful for comparing technologies rather than as today’s prices. ### Technology #### What is Genosorb® VOC recovery? It is a physical absorption process. VOC-laden gas passes through an absorber where a liquid Genosorb® absorbent dissolves the solvent out of the gas. The loaded absorbent is then heated in a stripper, the released VOC is condensed as a recoverable liquid, and the regenerated absorbent is cooled and recycled to the absorber. #### How is absorption different from activated carbon adsorption? In absorption the solvent dissolves into a circulating liquid at ambient temperature and the process runs continuously. In adsorption the solvent sticks to carbon beds that must be switched and regenerated in cycles and periodically replaced. Ketones and mixed solvents release heat on carbon and can cause bed fires; absorption has no beds to overheat, a lower pressure drop and a smaller footprint. #### How is VOC recovery different from thermal oxidation? Thermal and catalytic oxidisers destroy the solvent, need supplemental fuel such as natural gas or LPG, and add CO₂ emissions. Genosorb recovers the solvent so it can be returned to production, turning an emission-control cost into a material saving. #### Is VOC recovery the same as a solvent recovery (distillation) plant? No. A solvent distillation unit or “solvent recycler” purifies used liquid solvent. VOC recovery captures solvent that has evaporated into air or nitrogen — from vents, dryers and hoods — and turns it back into liquid. The two can work together: recovered solvent sometimes goes to an existing distillation unit for final purification. #### Which solvents can be recovered? Both polar and non-polar solvents, including acetone, MEK, MIBK, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, toluene, xylene, hexane, heptane, tetrahydrofuran, methylene chloride, acrylonitrile, styrene and carbon disulphide. Genosorb 300 is used for polar solvents and Genosorb 1843 for non-polar, aromatic and chlorinated solvents. #### What recovery efficiency can be achieved? Genosorb systems are designed for 95–99.9% recovery. CCDC installations have achieved over 99% recovery on acrylonitrile and methylene dichloride streams, and around 90% on multi-point methanol and carbon disulphide streams. #### Can one unit handle several solvents at once? Yes. Genosorb absorbs polar and non-polar solvents together, and CCDC’s trailer-mounted pilot plant has demonstrated recovery from mixtures of up to six solvents simultaneously. The absorbent grade or blend is matched to the mixture. #### Can low-concentration, high-volume streams be treated economically? Yes. For streams of 10,000–200,000 m³/hr at only a few hundred to a few thousand ppm, a rotary concentrator is added ahead of the Genosorb unit. It raises concentration by up to 30×, so a 100,000 Nm³/hr flow reaches the recovery plant as 5,000–7,000 Nm³/hr, cutting equipment cost by 75–85%. ### Compliance in India #### Is VOC recovery mandatory in India? There is no single national rule requiring every plant to recover VOCs. Requirements come through State Pollution Control Board consent and Environmental Clearance conditions, sector guidelines such as CPCB’s draft pharmaceutical guidelines, and specific mandates such as vapour recovery at fuel outlets and terminals. Check your own consent conditions. #### What do CPCB’s draft guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry propose? Published for comment in early 2025, they propose recovering up to 95% of spent solvent in captive units, keeping total solvent losses within 5% of inventory, controlling VOCs with devices such as scrubbers, condensers and absorbers, and running a leak detection and repair programme. We are not aware of a final notification as of October 2026. #### Do fuel terminals and petrol pumps need vapour recovery? Yes, above certain sizes. Following a Supreme Court order in March 2023, CPCB requires vapour recovery systems at high-volume fuel outlets in large cities and at storage terminals, and has imposed environmental compensation for delays. CCDC has studied vapour recovery for tanker loading, where the recovered hydrocarbon pays for the plant. ### Working with CCDC #### What does CCDC deliver? Everything from the first assessment to a working plant: feasibility study, process design and engineering, and a skid-mounted, fully instrumented recovery plant designed, engineered and fabricated in India, with on-site pilot trials where they are needed. #### Which industries use Genosorb VOC recovery? Chemicals, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, flexible packaging, gravure printing, paints, coatings, inks, adhesives, automotive, textiles, battery manufacturing and semiconductors. #### What gas flows has CCDC designed for? Reference installations range from a compact 100 Nm³/hr hexane recovery unit to gravure-printing streams above 100,000 Nm³/hr, including a carbon disulphide system scaled up 500× from pilot to 20,000–45,000 Nm³/hr. #### We do not know our vent losses. Can you measure them? Yes. CCDC can visit your plant, measure VOC emissions from each vent and give you a kg/day figure with a rupee-value loss estimate. #### How do I get started? Request a feasibility study. Share the solvent(s), gas flow, VOC concentration and operating conditions, and CCDC will prepare a preliminary recovery evaluation. CCDC is based in Chennai and works with plants across India. Contact voc@ccdcindia.com or +91 98401 42990. --- ## About CCDC — VOC Recovery Engineers, Chennai URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-ccdc-india > CCDC is a Chennai process engineering company with 45 years of experience, designing and building Genosorb® VOC recovery plants in India, with pilot testing, scale-up and skid-mounted delivery. CCDC — Commercial, Chemical And Development Company — is a Chennai process engineering company with 45 years of experience. It designs and builds industrial VOC recovery systems based on Genosorb® absorption for plants across India. - **Indian engineering:** Every system is designed, engineered, and fabricated in India, backed by 45 years of process engineering experience. - **Skid-mounted systems:** Plants are shipped fully skid-mounted and erected outdoors — no covered shed required, minimising civil construction cost. - **Automated operation:** Fully instrumented for automatic operation, minimising manual intervention and providing continuous monitoring. - **Pilot demonstrations:** A trailer-mounted mobile pilot plant, designed by CCDC and operated with Clariant, has run numerous on-site demonstrations including mixtures of up to six solvents. - **Commercial scale-up:** Technology proven at pilot scale has been scaled up as much as 500× into full commercial plants across a wide range of industries. - **Custom engineering:** Solvent selection, temperature, pressure, and heat integration are engineered around each specific stream — not sold as an off-the-shelf fit. ### Technology partnership Developed in-house with technical input from Clariant A.G., Germany. Pilot plant designed by CCDC and constructed and operated by Clariant. ### Led by Dr D M Mohunta CCDC is headed by Dr D M Mohunta, a chemical engineer with about five decades of experience. His work on mass transfer in packed-column operations and chemical process engineering — the core of absorber and stripper design — has been widely cited, and he has authored monographs on phosphorus-based fire retardants, engineering plastics, phosgene chemistry and safety, and supercritical CO₂ extraction. He also wrote CCDC’s 2004 study “[VOC recovery from gaseous streams](https://www.ccdcindia.com/articles/voc-recovery-gaseous-streams/)”, whose Indian cost comparisons appear on this site. ### More from CCDC CCDC’s main website, [ccdcindia.com](https://www.ccdcindia.com), covers its wider chemical and process engineering consultancy. The same Genosorb® absorption technology is also used to produce [compressed biogas from raw biogas](https://www.ccdcindia.com/compressed-biogas-from-raw-biogas/). Answers to common questions are in the [VOC recovery FAQ](https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-faq). ### Contact 41/42/3 1st Main Road West, Shenoy Nagar, Chennai 600030, India · +91 98401 42990 · voc@ccdcindia.com --- ## Get a VOC Recovery Feasibility Assessment URL: https://www.vocrecovery.in/voc-recovery-genosorb-feasibility-study > Request an engineering assessment of your VOC stream. Share solvent, flow, concentration and operating data — or ask CCDC to measure your vent losses — for a preliminary recovery evaluation. Two ways to start: - **Request a feasibility study:** share the solvents, gas flow, VOC concentration and operating conditions; CCDC returns a technology recommendation with a rough cost range. - **Don’t know your vent losses?** CCDC visits the plant, measures VOC emissions from each vent and gives a kg/day figure with a rupee-value loss estimate. Contact: voc@ccdcindia.com · +91 98401 42990