Survey and technical assessment of alternatives to decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in textile applications
Posner, S
| HERO ID | 1003959 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Title | Survey and technical assessment of alternatives to decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in textile applications |
| Authors | Posner, S |
| Publisher Text | Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate |
| City | Sundbyberg, Sweden |
| Abstract | On behalf of the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate, IFP Research has surveyed and carried out a technical assessment of flame-retardant alternatives to decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) currently available for textile applications. Coated textile materials, furniture and similar seating and bedding products but also other technical textile items are common textile applications for decaBDE. The protection against flames is based on the synergy between antimony and bromine, usually in the form of decabromodiphenyl ether, applied in the ratio of one part antimony to three parts bromine, which has historically proved to be the most effective synergetic molar ratio to achieve the best possible flame-retardant properties. The market for flame retardants has grown principally because of increasingly stringent international and national safety requirements. This trend has been pushed ahead in particular in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, especially California. Customers’ requirements are absolute, whether they are public institutions, international organisations or businesses active in the market. If the fire requirements are not met, there is no market for the individual supplier and the manufacturer. On the other hand, there are no descriptive fire requirements at all stipulating that particular flame retardants have to be used for the requirements to be met. The choice of flame retardant is left entirely to the manufacturer. In some cases the requirements are so strict that the alternatives are not economically feasible or the environmental requirements in that part of the world do not make the alternatives possible. Inferior quality characteristics, such as a deterioration in the comfort and durability of the textile product, may also be limiting factors in the manufacturer’s choice of flame retardant. As well as statutory and safety requirements for these products, the focus on the environmental impact of flame retardants and their impact on human health has led the major manufacturers of flame retardants around the world to add non-halogenated products to their traditional ranges of halogenated flame retardants in recent years. There are established flame-retardant materials and potential new variants based on other synergistic combinations as possible substitutes for antimony-decaBDE. These may be organic phosphorus compounds or phosphorus-chlorine compounds, aluminium and zinc hydrate, swelling (intumescent) systems, new synergistic combinations, for example antimony – bromine/phosphorus – silicon, surface-active fibre systems and systems with graft copolymers. Some of these alternatives have been established on the market for decades. The fact that organic bromine compounds continue to be used instead of halogen-free alternatives is due to a number of factors, only a few of which are technical in nature. Together with low price, one of the most common reasons why the alternatives do not always become accepted is that the market prefers to make use of tried-and-tested flame retardants. The types of flame protection likely to entirely replace antimony-decaBDE, with the backing of clear rules and regulations, are the intumescent systems and phosphorus chemistry. The flameresistant fibres combined with combustible fibres will probably also be used successfully in some applications. However, a number of fire-related problems remain to be solved in some applications, for example for polyurethane foam, but this trend too will accelerate when the halogenated alternatives no longer have a role to play in the international sustainable society. It is now up to the legislators to create this incentive. The technology already exists. |
| Is Certified Translation | No |
| Dupe Override | No |
| Is Public | Yes |
| Is Qa | No |
| Relationship(s) |
|