Potential to Emit (PTE) - Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions are measured and reduced over time

Solvents, printing inks, binders, adhesives, coating and finishing formulations used at supplier facilities can release VOCs such as toluene, DMFa, benzene etc.

Calculating Potential to Emit

To calculate VOC Potential to Emit (PTE) from the chemical inventory used in production processes suppliers must:

1. Collect information on hazardous VOC ingredients, CAS numbers and their percentages in each chemical used in production processes. 
2. Record annual consumption (kg) of each chemical.
3. Upload this data to the ZDHC platform.

The 100% Potential to Emit (PTE) of VOCs based on ingredient information in the chemical inventory is calculated as follows:

• _{Mi​ = annual consumption of chemical formulation i, in kg/year}
• _{Cij,max​ = maximum concentration of VOC ingredient j in formulation i, in % w/w}
• _{N = total number of chemical formulations in the inventory}
• _{ni = number of VOC ingredients in formulation i}
• _{The output unit is kg VOC/year}

Chemical products to be included in the calculation

US EPA and EU EPA comprehensive list of VOCs

Implementation

Below is a high-level overview of the actions required, with further insight into details related to each relevant stakeholder.

Implementation period

Suppliers should: 

• Calculate VOCs PTE data on the ZDHC Supplier Platform Air Emissions Module.
• Review the data.
• Set or revise VOC reduction goals
• Repeat the process at least annually.