Trailer Mounted Thermal Oxidizer for Truck Vapor Control
Executive Summary
Epcon supplied a custom-designed, fully integrated trailer-mounted thermal oxidizer system to a truck / tanker-truck loading-unloading facility to control vapours and odours generated during truck cleaning and loading/unloading operations. The mobile unit provides flexibility — it can be moved around the facility depending on demand — while delivering high-performance vapor destruction, regulatory compliance, and convenient, user-friendly operation. This mobile oxidizer reduces VOC/HAP emissions, eliminates odour nuisance, and supports safe, efficient operations without requiring fixed infrastructure.
Project Overview
The customer — a tanker-truck cleaning and vapor-control facility — required a mobile air-pollution control system that could be relocated around the site to match variable truck-loading/unloading and cleaning demands. A static oxidizer or fixed vapor-collection would not provide the necessary flexibility given the dynamic nature of truck throughput and variable vapor generation points.
Epcon was contracted to design, fabricate, and deliver a 36-foot trailer-mounted thermal oxidizer system — complete with onboard vapor collection, power generation, controls and safety systems — enabling the customer to treat vapours from any truck / tank-cleaning location within the site, without the need for permanent ductwork.
The Challenge
- Variable and shifting vapor sources: Tanker trucks and cleaning bays generate vapors and emissions at different points in the facility depending on which trucks are being processed — a fixed oxidizer or duct network would not provide the needed flexibility. The system had to be portable.
- Need for effective VOC / hydrocarbon vapor destruction: Vapors emitted during truck loading/unloading or cleaning often contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other hydrocarbons/odorous compounds. These must be destroyed before release to meet environmental regulations and odor-control requirements. Thermal oxidizers are a well-established technology for VOC/HAP destruction.
- Convenience and user-friendliness under field conditions: As the unit needs to be moved and operated outdoors (on a trailer), it must include its own power, controls, safe combustion chamber, and durable construction to withstand transport and variable ambient conditions.
- Regulatory compliance and safety: The system must ensure sufficient destruction efficiency (VOC/HAP destruction), safe combustion (mixing, oxygen supply, flame stability), handle variable vapor loads, and meet emissions and air-quality regulations for industrial vapor control.
The Solution
Epcon delivered a turnkey Trailer-Mounted Thermal Oxidizer System with the following core features and design choices:
- A 36-foot trailer-mounted oxidizer unit, enabling mobility — the system can be transported by truck/trailer to different areas of the facility depending on where vapor generation occurs. This accommodates variable workflow and multiple loading/cleaning bays without permanent ducting.
- Integrated vapor-collection, combustion, and control systems — the unit includes onboard vapor collection capability, combustion chamber, blower / air-handling, safety interlocks, and controls/power generation, making it self-contained and ready to operate without external infrastructure.
- Thermal-oxidation of vapors (VOC/HAP destruction) — using high-temperature combustion, the oxidizer converts VOCs, hydrocarbons, odorous vapors and other volatile emissions into carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water vapor (H₂O), ensuring safe, compliant exhaust. This is the standard purpose of thermal oxidizers in industrial emissions control.
- Flexibility and scalability — because the oxidizer is mobile and self-contained, the facility can scale operations, manage peak vapor loads, or handle batch-cleaning without needing multiple fixed oxidizers. The mobility also reduces upfront infrastructure cost and allows reuse in different parts of the facility or other sites.
- Turnkey delivery and ease of deployment — Epcon handled design, manufacturing, integration, testing, and commissioning — supplying a plug-and-play mobile oxidizer that can be deployed with minimal on-site modifications.
Technical Specifications
Unit Type: Trailer-mounted, mobile Thermal Oxidizer (self-contained on 36′ trailer)
Function: Vapor & odor control for tanker-truck cleaning, loading/unloading operations — treating vapours from tank vents, cleaning operations, truck degassing.
VOC / HAP Destruction: High-temperature combustion converting VOCs/hydrocarbons/odors into CO₂ + H₂O — using standard thermal-oxidizer approach for emission control.
Mobility & Flexibility: Trailer-mounted design allows relocation to different vapor-generation points, flexible deployment without fixed ductwork or permanent installation.
On-board Systems: Vapor collection, blower / air-handling, combustion chamber, controls, power generation — self-contained for field operation.
Installation & Commissioning: Delivered turnkey by Epcon — design, fabrication, testing, installation, commissioning, training — minimal on-site prep required.
The Results
The mobile oxidizer delivered the following value to the customer:
- Flexibility & operational convenience — the trailer-mounted system can be moved where needed, enabling efficient handling of variable truck loading/unloading or cleaning workloads without permanent infrastructure.
- Effective vapor and odor abatement — VOCs, hydrocarbons, and odorous vapors from tanker cleaning and loading/unloading are destroyed via thermal oxidation — ensuring emissions compliance and eliminating odor nuisance.
- Reduced capital and installation cost vs fixed systems — because the unit is self-contained and mobile, the customer avoids building permanent ductwork or multiple fixed oxidizers, reducing upfront CAPEX and installation time.
- Scalable and reusable solution — the trailer-mounted oxidizer can be reused across multiple loading bays, different sites, or as demand changes, making it cost-effective for variable operations.
- Regulatory compliance and environmental responsibility — thermal oxidizers are recognized as a reliable means to destroy VOCs/HAPs and other pollutants, converting them to harmless byproducts (CO₂, H₂O) — supporting environmental compliance goals.
- User friendly and turnkey deployment — the self-contained design, onboard controls and power generation make the system easy to operate, maintain, and relocate, reducing complexity for the customer.
