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ABSTRACT
Fluoroalcanes products are frequently used in many aspects of everyday life, such as refrigerant fluids in refrigeration systems and air conditioners, expanding agents in insulating foams, cleaning solvents, aerosol propellants and fire extinguishing agents. After specifying the particular nomenclature of Fluoroalcanes, this article presents the principal manufacturing processes of these products. It traces the history of this family, a history that follows developments in new environmental regulations by the destruction of ozone for some, the greenhouse effect for others. The major applications of Fluoroalcanes, as well as the future prospects are discussed at the end of article.
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Sylvain PERDRIEUX: Process Manager at ARKEMA's Rhône-Alpes research center
INTRODUCTION
Fluoroalkanes are a family of chemicals that have been widely used since the 1930s in many areas of everyday life: refrigerants in refrigerating machines and air conditioners, expanding agents for insulating foams, cleaning solvents, aerosol propellants, fire extinguishing agents, to name but a few of the main applications. Marketed products belonging to this family have evolved considerably since the 1990s, as a result of new environmental regulations: the ozone-depleting potential (ODP) of certain non-hydrogenated fluoroalkanes led to their virtual disappearance during the 1990s, while some of their substitutes proved to have a significant greenhouse effect (GWP), prompting the development of replacement products. This article traces the evolution of this important chemical family and illustrates the main means of production and major applications of the products that make it up.
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Fluoroalkanes
Special nomenclature
Economic data
Figure 1 illustrates the trends in worldwide production of fluoroalkanes, as reconstituted by the Alternative Fluorocarbons Environmental Acceptability Study (AFEAS): these are based on data reported by the manufacturing companies that responded to the AFEAS program; moreover, these data only cover...
Bibliography
References
Regulations
Regulation (EC) No. 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 29, 2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 17, 2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases.
Directive 2006/40/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 17, 2006 relating to emissions from...
Producers
Regulatory changes have seriously affected all producers in their development strategies for these products; moreover, a large proportion of CFC substitution is taking place with non-fluorinated products: as can be seen in figure 1 , tonnages produced have fallen significantly.
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Organizations
Alternative Fluorocarbons Environmental Acceptability Study (AFEAS) http://www.afeas.org/
Intergovernmental Panel or Climate Change (IPCC) http://www.ipcc.ch/
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