Acetone is not a VOC.
Also, Don't confuse VOC, which is about air pollution, with toxicity, which is not. Toluene is a very slow evaporating VOC that is toxic. Not all VOC are toxic and not all toxic solvents used in coatings are VOCs.
Most 2k water based urethanes with isocyanate hardeners are ~zero VOC (and colorless + odorless at less than harmful concentrations) but much more toxic to those spraying and within inhalation range. Thankfully we are moving to iso free formulations.
It happens that the isocyanate reacts with moisture in air fast enough that it won't harm many others but again, VOC != Toxicity.
I would rather have non toxic air pollution than colorless odorless toxic gas, and there are plenty of examples of VOC regulation generating the second.
It's one of the fun lies that paint companies sell (0 voc = safer for you. Non VOC is good for environment in general but tells you nothing about safety)
Acetone is absolutely a volatile organic compound (VOC). It might not be toxic, but it's an organic solvent with a high vapor pressure at relatively low temperatures.
Scientifically, yes, but it is exempt from almost all regulation as a VOC.
Since the definition here is the regulatory one, it is not a VOC as we're talking about.
It is the main carrier in almost all solvent borne VOC compliant formulations of coatings
As a result, for example, roughly all solvent borne wood coatings that are VOC compliant use acetone these days.
This has fun effects.
They used to use, mostly (but it varies a bit), n-butyl acetate.
Of course, acetone flashes off way too quickly, making it almost impossible to get coatings to level and flow properly. So the real result is that the coatings are made higher solids and then get reduced by the user with a significant amount of VOC (toluene, NBA) so they are usable again.
So sold VOC compliant but not really in practice, and everyone looks the other way because they don't really generate enough pollution to be worth cracking down[1].
[1] Moving to water borne is expensive and tricky. For example:
They mostly spray conversion varnish which is cheap and easy, and resistant to almost all chemicals. Consumers want cabinets/etc that don't get stained when you get ketchup or wine on them.
In water borne, they'd have to spray 2k urethane to get the same resistance, but doing so safely requires supplied air setups that are quite expensive, at least until iso-free formulations get better.
Most 2k water based urethanes with isocyanate hardeners are ~zero VOC (and colorless + odorless at less than harmful concentrations) but much more toxic to those spraying and within inhalation range. Thankfully we are moving to iso free formulations.
It happens that the isocyanate reacts with moisture in air fast enough that it won't harm many others but again, VOC != Toxicity.
I would rather have non toxic air pollution than colorless odorless toxic gas, and there are plenty of examples of VOC regulation generating the second.
It's one of the fun lies that paint companies sell (0 voc = safer for you. Non VOC is good for environment in general but tells you nothing about safety)