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DANISH EPA ISSUES DETAILED REPORT ON FLUOROCARBONS

04 May 2015

In its recent report “Survey of selected fluorinated greenhouse gases”, the Danish Environment Protection Agency 2015 takes into account the qualities of HFCs, mentioning that “Generally F-gases are gases or volatile liquids at room temperature, thermal and chemical stable, with very low toxicity and with favourable environmental profile apart from their global warming potential”.

They also confirm EFCTC’s position on TFA from fluorocarbons by saying that “No toxic effects of degradation products have been identified, including trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) which is a degradation product of some HFOs and HFCs.

TFA is a highly persistent pollutant that appears to be a naturally occurring chemical present in seawater and significant concentrations have been found in rain, river and lake water and both coastal and deep-ocean sea water.

The oceans are thus a large reservoir for TFA and the observed concentrations are far in excess of those that could occur as a result of atmospheric oxidation of man-made fluorocarbons.”

The agency also quotes EFCTC research on refrigerants accidents : “The European Fluorocarbons Technical Committee (EFCTC) has on their web-site recently published a factsheet regarding published refrigerant related accidents. Based on a 2006-2013 Google search 981 injuries and 95 fatalities related to refrigerant accidents could be identified. These statistics were dominated by ammonia. One fatality due to a fluorocarbon accident is reported.”

Source: pp. 7, 10 and 88 - Danish Ministry of the Environment - EPA