DOI: 10.11648/j.ajese.20261003.12 ISSN: 2578-7993

Volatile Organic Compounds from the Oil and Gas Extraction and Processing: Emission Characteristics, Monitoring Technologies, Control Technologies, and Environmental and Health Impacts

Shuzheng Guo, Yiqi Wang, Pengyu Wang, Haoxiang Wang, Xiuqin Sun
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the oil and gas extraction and processing industry constitute a major fraction of global anthropogenic VOC releases, with significant implications for tropospheric ozone formation, secondary organic aerosol production, and population-level health risks. This review adopts a source-monitoring-control-impact four-dimensional analytical framework to systematically evaluate the current state of research spanning the full petroleum industrial chain. The analysis reveals a progressive compositional shift in emission profiles, from alkane-dominated fugitive releases in upstream extraction to aromatic- and olefin-rich process emissions in midstream refining, culminating in evaporative losses during downstream storage and transport. A persistent discrepancy exists between bottom-up emission inventories and top-down flux measurements, with fugitive sources systematically underestimated by factors of two to five. The three-tier monitoring hierarchy of offline speciation, online continuous monitoring, and satellite- and UAV-based remote sensing provides complementary spatial and temporal coverage, yet cross-tier data integration remains underdeveloped, limiting the realization of unified emission estimates. Control strategies follow a three-stage hierarchy in which source reduction and process optimization deliver substantially greater emission reduction per unit cost than end-of-pipe treatment alone, although condensation-adsorption-catalytic oxidation remains the mainstream refinery exhaust treatment configuration. Health risk assessments consistently identify benzene-driven incremental lifetime cancer risk exceeding regulatory benchmarks in fenceline communities, while secondary pollution from ozone and aerosol formation extends impacts hundreds of kilometers downwind. To shift from reactive compliance to proactive VOC management, interconnected areas must be prioritized: artificial intelligence powered operational multi-platform emission inventories, unified VOC-greenhouse gas surveillance networks, intelligent closed-loop process control, pilot-scale synergistic abatement technologies, integrated co-control policies that jointly reduce VOCs and methane, and prospective cohort studies with biomarker-based exposure assessment.

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