Organic solvent impacts on tropospheric air pollution

Solvents, either by design or default, are often emitted in to the air, and the total mass of emissions of solvents is not small. In a typical city in the United States, solvents can rival automobile exhaust as the largest source category of volatilized organic compound (VOC) emissions into the atmosphere. In the United Kingdom, solvent usage accounted for 36% of the estimated total VOC mass emissions in 1995. Such widespread emissions leads to increased concentrations of many different compounds in the ambient environment, and their release has diverse impacts on air quality. 

A large variety of solvent-associated compounds are emitted, many of which are hydrocarbons, oxygenates. Those solvents may have multiple atmospheric impacts. For example, toluene is potentially toxic and can reach relatively high concentrations at small spatial scales, such as in a workplace. Toluene also contributes to the formation of tropospheric ozone at urban scales, while at regional scales toluene can lower the rate of tropospheric ozone formation. Other solvents likewise can have a range of impacts, ranging from local contamination to modification of the global climate system. 

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