There are large numbers of manufacturing processes that involve emissions of controlled chemical vapours also referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOC). The two most common processes used in industry to separate VOCs before they are emitted to the atmosphere are condensation and oxidation. Condensation requires a refrigeration system that would separate the VOC from the exhaust stream. Oxidation, sometimes known as afterburner or incineration, requires high thermal energy to combust the VOC. Both abatement technologies involve large capital costs. In the case of combusting the VOC, fuel is usually added to the air/VOC mixture for proper air/fuel ratio. The resulting high temperature gas from the energy intensive process is sometimes recovered as an offshoot of the VOC destruction process. Typically, oxidation systems are sized solely with elimination of VOC in mind; heat recovery from the system is opted for as a secondary opportunity, usually at a later stage. This paper demonstrates that combining the oxidation process with combined heat and power (CHP) to address the total site energy requirement could have significant energy saving and economic benefits to sizing the oxidation for VOC destruction marking heat recovery as a spin-off. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.