Miljøprojekt, 1013 – More environmentally friendly alternatives to PFOS-compounds and PFOA – Appendix D Use of PFOA ammonium salt in Denmark

More environmentally friendly alternatives to PFOS-compounds and PFOA

Appendix D Use of PFOA ammonium salt in Denmark

9.1 Information from a surface treatment company in Denmark
9.2 Information from Teleinstrument A/S

One of the tasks of this project was to make a survey of the use of PFOA in Denmark, similar to the earlier survey of PFOS (Havelund 2002).

As described in chapter 3 (Table 3.4) seven PFOA-compounds and salts of PFOA are relevant. (US EPA, 2003a).

A preliminary search was carried out in the SPIN ^[15] database – a database of product registers in the Nordic countries. This search showed that only the PFOA compound itself and the ammonium salt of the compounds listed in Table 3.2 in chapter 3 were registered in the product register of the Nordic countries. The search in the SPIN database also showed that only the ammonium salt of PFOA is registered in the Danish Product register, i.e. is used in chemical products produced in Denmark (which must be labelled as dangerous).

A contact to the Danish Product Register revealed the following about the use of the ammonium salt of PFOA with CAS number 3825-26-1 (Andersen, 2004; Jensen, 2004):

A maximum of 35 kilo of PFOA ammonium salt is used per year in Denmark (as a sum of the fraction in all products registered).
The products registered with a content of PFOA ammonium salt are used within the paint, varnish and surface treatment area.
The content of PFOA ammonium salt in all products is below 0.2%.
The PFOA ammonium salt is a part of 19 products in total.

Further information about the use of PFOA ammonium salt from the Danish Product Register is confidential, which means that three or fewer companies have registered products with a content of the PFOA ammonium salt.

The information from the Danish Product Register shows that the production of products containing PFOA is very small (35 kilo per year) – also compared to the amount of PFOS-compounds in consumer products in Denmark (5-50 tons per year). Still, this is what could be expected, as the problem with PFOA primarily seems to be the release of PFOA during use. Normally, PFOA is not present in the product after production and will not be registered in the Product Register.

Furthermore, the information from the Danish Product Register only refers to products that are produced in Denmark and do not reveal the possible content of PFOA in imported products. PFOA may in a larger degree than PFOS be a contaminant in imported finished fluoropolymeric products.

This information can be obtained by collecting import data from Statistics Denmark for the products expected to either contain PFOA or to release PFOA in use. However, as PFOA can be released from numerous products, it will be difficult to calculate a correct amount of imported products from where PFOA can be released when used. First of all, the nomenclature used by EU (The Combined Nomenclature - KN-codes) are not detailed enough to be able to distinguish between e.g. different kitchen utensils, such as pots and pans. Secondly, it is not possible to distinguish between for example Teflon coated products and non-Teflon coated products. A calculation of the imported amount of products expected to be able to release PFOA is therefore problematic and will necessarily be based on educated guesses. Hence, the calculation will be very uncertain. Therefore, no statistical information about products expected to release PFOA when used is obtained in this project.

Instead the companies – only two, which according to the Danish Product Register sell products with a content of PFOA ammonium salt, were contacted.

9.1 Information from a surface treatment company in Denmark

One of the Danish companies with a registered use of PFOA was contacted. The company is one of the leading applicators in Europe within the field of utilisation of PTFE fluoroplastics. The company carries out coating of all sorts of products with fluoroplastics. Several different layers of fluoroplastics are added in a closed automatic process, where the primer and topcoat layers are added by spraying.

According to this company, the ammonium salt of PFOA is found in two of their products – a primer and a topcoat. The company does not produce the fluoroplastic, but imports the products. The PFOA ammonium salt is in the products due to impurities, as PTFE is manufactured by use of PFOA ammonium salt. The specific content of PFOA ammonium salt in the products is unknown to the company, but the content is very small – less than 0.1% of the total product weight.

The purchase of the PFOA ammonium salt containing products was in 2002 115 kg and 147 kg respectively. The purchase in 2003 was 130 kg and 0 kg respectively. This means that the company utilises less than 250 grams of PFOA per year.

The company contacted their supplier, which states that at the moment no PFOA-free PTFE-dispersion is available on the market, but all the big suppliers of PTFE have started to work on possible alternatives. However, at the moment there seems to be no satisfying alternative to PFOA in the production-process of PTFE. (Personal communication – surface treatment company, 2004).

9.2 Information from Teleinstrument A/S

Teleinstrument A/S was the other company with a registered use of PFOA. According to the Danish Product Register this company uses PFOA ammonium salt in fluxing agents for the purpose of plumbing.

The company contacted their British suppliers and got the reply that the PFOA ammonium salt no longer is used in their products. In other words, it is a mistake that this use has not been deleted from the Danish Product Register. (Personal communication Teleinstrument, 2004).

Footnotes

[15] Substances in Preparations in Nordic Countries - www.spin2000.net/spin.html.