Nokian tire plant exceeds VOC permit levels

Nokia, Finland – Emissions of volatile organic compound (VOC) from Nokian Tyres’ factory in Finland are still above the maximum allowed level, the company’s latest Sustainability Report shows.

In Finland, Nokian calculates VOC emissions according to the EU VOC directive, which is based on ‘used solvents’ – used only in the production of ‘heavy’ industrial tires at the tire plant.

While the total emission limit set in the Nokia factory’s environmental permit is 60% of the solvents used, last year this level was recorded at 81%, according to the 2021 report issued 14 March.

While VOCs from the assembly of heavy tires are collected and conveyed to a catalytic incineration unit, collecting solvent emissions from industrial tire production “poses a challenge,” said Nokian.

“In the production of heavy tires, it is not possible to seal the emission sources in such a way that all emissions could be collected and conveyed for incineration,” the company explained.

In 2021, Nokian installed new ‘target suction’ units for VOC vapours in its heavy tire building machines to increase the share of collected VOCs for incineration.

Despite these corrective actions, solvent emissions exceeded permit levels, admitted Nokian, adding that “evaluation of further measures to solve the problem has been started.”