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Survey and environmental/health assessment of fluorinated substances in impregnated consumer products and impregnating agents

5 Consumption of fluorinated substances in Denmark

• 5.1 Experiences
• 5.2 Results

5.1 Experiences

In all 59 different companies were contacted.

In general, it has been very difficult to get any useable information out of the companies. The companies are divided in two groups:

• A large group that has no or almost no knowledge about fluorinated substances and therefore also their uses.
• A smaller group that has a high knowledge about the fluorinated compounds.

The survey has shown that the second group, in most cases are unwilling to participate in the study or are referring to the trade union within their sector.

Some of the problems in mapping the use of fluorinated compounds are:

• Importers and end users may not be aware that the products contain fluorinated compounds because it is confidential information, and the content is not necessarily mentioned in material safety data sheets.
• The supply chain may be long, meaning that companies are giving up, when trying to retrieve the information from their suppliers, as it often is the supplier of the supplier that has the necessary information.
• Not all companies are willing to tell the identity of their suppliers, and in most cases the companies preferred to contact their suppliers themselves.
• The producers do not necessarily know which specific types of products their products are used for. They do not get feedback from their customers.
• Short chain fluorinated compounds may appear as contaminants or impurities in products containing fluoropolymers. For example, in products for impregnation fluorinated compounds may appear as impurities at the level of parts per million.

5.2 Results

Based on the above descriptions and calculations in chapter 4 the total estimated consumption of fluorinated substances in Denmark is somewhere between 14 and more than 38 tonnes annually (see Table 5.1). Table 5.1 is a summary of the calulations and estimates described in chapter 4. It is, however, an uncertain estimate because some figures are calculated with a use of educated guesses based on information from industry and literature. The amounts found by the search in the Product Register must for most used be regarded as minimum values as only chemicals that contain substances classified as dangerous in a concentration of at least 0.1% or 1% (depending on the classification of the substance) are to be registered in the Danish Product Register, i.e. there may be a use of chemicals not classified as dangerous with a content of fluorinated substances. Furthermore a use of articles/products with a content of fluorinated substances is not registered in the Danish Product Register. If no other information was available the amounts from the Danishg Product Register were used as both minimum and maximum amounts.

Table 5.1: Total calculated estimated amount of fluorinated substances used or contained in products in Denmark

One thing is the use of fluorinated substances, another thing is, however, the type of fluorinated substances used, and the possibility of the substances to be degraded to PFOS, PFOA or other PFCAs in the environment, as these substances are the most critical in the environment.

DuPont has published a scientific paper, in which they calculate the PFO (Perfluorooctanoate) content in selected consumer articles (Washburn et al., 2005). This content covers the impurities of PFOA, but not compounds being degraded to PFCAs, as for example the possibility of fluorotelomer alcohols to degrade to PFCA. By using the data given in the DuPont paper on the above figures, it can be seen that the impurities of PFOA typically is somewhere between 0.1 and 1% of the total content of fluorinated substances.

It must be noted that about 7.5 tonnes of the total 16.5 tonnes registered in the Danish Product Register counts for substances that have a chain length lower than 8, and that are furthermore substances that are not on the OECD list of PFAS, PFOS, PFOA and substances that can be degraded to PFCA.

The rest of the chemicals may, however, have a potential to degrade to PFOA or other PFCAs in the environment. The exact amount is not known, as this would require detailed knowledge of the fluorinated substances used, as only specific types of fluorinated substances can be degraded to PFOS, PFOA or other PFCAs in the environment.

At the meeting with DuPont and the trade association Plastics Europe, they commented on the list of substances from the Danish Product Register, and informed that in their opinion, not all of the substances could be degraded to PFAS and only in small amounts.

This survey of fluorinated substances used in consumer products in Denmark has unfortunately not given any detailed information (as CAS numbers) about the specific substances that are used in the products. For information about the specific substances we must rely on the list of substances registered in the Danish Product Register and the list of substances that can be found by going into detail with the Material Safety Data Sheets on different products containing fluorinated substances.

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Version 1.0 October 2008, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency