Textile additives based on perfluorinated polymers are primarily used in the field of chemical and infection protection of textiles, e.g. for protection against severe weather conditions or in survival protection equipment, ballistic protection, etc. In combination with flame retardants, such textile additives are also essential for textiles to meet various regulations and legal standards, e.g. for seat covers. This functionality also plays an important role in technical textiles for textile membranes for specific production processes, such as food production, fuel cells and many more, for which there are still no alternatives in sight. In the field of fluorochemistry, additional REACH restrictions are currently pending, especially for perfluorinated polymers - here is an overview: The ECHA (European Chemical Agency) RAC and SEAC committees endorsed the German restriction proposal in their statements on the restriction proposal for perfluorinated carbox-ylic acids (PFCAs) with chain lengths between C9 and C14, their salts and compounds. Comments on the draft SEAC opinion could be submitted in a public consultation until November 19, 2018. Analogous to the PFOA restriction already carried out, this restriction primarily affects the so-called C6 chemistry of the well-known fluortelomer manufacturers, since the telomerization process produces the corresponding longer-chain precursor compounds of these substances, which can then be oxidized to the corresponding PFCAs. What has now become apparent is that production of the initial C6 chemical raw materials in Europe would no longer be possible without far-reaching restriction exceptions at the current limits. Euratex will therefore participate in the completed PFOA restriction procedure with regard to the textile C8 exceptions for occupational health and safety etc., which, like C6 chemistry, are also affected by these restrictions (see restriction timetable).
展开▼
