Because of their impact on health and the environment, emissions of solvents or VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) by companies in the European Union must be reduced by 50% between now and 2010. In order to meet this regulatory goal, the industrial players concerned have begun using various processing technologies, some of which make use of the adsorbent benefits of activated carbons. These techniques find particular application in automotive painting, as well as in printing, chemistry, petro-chemistry, pharmaceutical fields, etc., all requiring the use of solvents. They may also be used to act directly on the receiving environment, notably to decontaminate facilities accidentally polluted with VOCs.

The technique consists of passing solvents though a bed of specific activated carbons in granular form, whose granulometry is defined on the basis of the flow and form of the filter.

When the carbon grain is saturated, it may, under certain conditions, be placed into a desorption phase through heating, which is accomplished by evaporating the solvents from a condensed liquid phase into a gaseous phase. In this case, the solvents may be recondensed upon exit for the purpose of reuse, thus becoming a part of a recycling process bound to reduce production costs while also preserving the environment. If carbon desorption proves impossible, a feasibility study is carried out by PICA in order to decide whether reuse of the carbon is possible, versus replacement of the carbon with a new product.

In the case of soils accidentally polluted by infiltrated solvents, the treatment technique involves aspirating the air from the soil, then passing it through a bed of activated granular carbon before it is released into the atmosphere.