Eternal pollutants: packaging, pots, clothes... Can we replace irreplaceable PFAS?

Europe 1 with AFP 5:08 p.m., April 4, 2024

There are many types of perennial pollutants, whether in solid, gaseous or liquid form. The resistance of these "pifasses" to heat, water or even corrosion, a question arises: how to replace them?

Is it possible to replace per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS or “perennial pollutants” that accumulate over time in soil or water? Manufacturers who produce or use these eternal pollutants and scientists answer the question.

Where are PFAS found?

PFAS have permeated modern life since the 1940s and 50s. These fluorinated elements are found in sports clothing, waterproof textiles, ski waxes, non-stick pans, food packaging, fire extinguishing foams, detergents, cosmetics, medicines, prosthetics, coatings and paints, air filtration membranes or electrolysis, but also on space probe hoses or in microelectronics.

There are thousands of them, in gaseous, liquid or solid form. Their resistance to corrosion, heat or light explains their appeal. But once in nature, they do not disintegrate. The most dangerous are “the smallest, the most mobile,” Mehran Mostafavi, deputy scientific director of CNRS Chemistry, told AFP.

>> READ ALSO - 

Eternal pollutants: three complaints filed against X in three French departments

Polymeric PFAS, inert and stable, such as those used for non-stick coatings on pans, are not problematic under normal conditions of use, according to the researcher.

“In fact, without overheating the stoves, polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) does not penetrate the body, but its manufacture can generate potentially toxic fluorinated surfactants,” adds Pierre Labadie, research director at the CNRS in environmental chemistry. Likewise, when incineration or recycling, “there is the possibility of generating problematic PFAS.”

Is it possible to do without it?

“We have to shake the idea that eternal pollutants are indispensable,” says Martin Scheringer, professor of environmental chemistry at the Zurich Polytechnic and president of the International Expert Group on Chemical Pollution (IPCP), which nevertheless highlights the work in progress at European level aimed at defining the exceptional concept of "essential use" for PFAS which we cannot do without.

“There are applications that we can do without, others for which alternatives exist, for the pharmaceutical sector it is very complicated,” explains Mr. Mostafavi.

Based on ongoing European work, the French government presented on Thursday a plan to ban as quickly as possible PFAS intentionally added to toys, textiles or cosmetics, deemed dangerous and non-essential, to better measure the presence of PFAS in air, water, soil and food, and reduce releases into the environment.

On the industrial side, for Benoit Lavigne, general delegate of the Federation of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Industries (FIEEC), which represents 6,500 companies, there "will be no energy transition without PFAS", present in heat pumps or batteries and “wherever there is significant thermal exchange”.

"For uses which expose consumers the most", the approach "must be focused on the substitution" of problematic substances via innovation, "as for food contact packaging" which has just been regulated at European level, believes Magali Smets, general director of France Chimie which represents 3,000 companies. Provided the replacement is not worse.

The chemical industry wants PFAS to be maintained in manufacturing processes, as long as "the manufacturer proves that they are used responsibly" for consumers, employees and the environment "in particular via studies on releases in the water", underlines Ms. Smets. 

Generally speaking, many manufacturers “have already exited PFAS or are in the process of doing so,” notes Mr. Scheringer.

Substitution: the case of cosmetics, ski waxes and fire foams

The OECD has identified 36 PFAS, emulsifiers, stabilizers, water-repellent agents, added to beauty products. The industry association Cosmetics Europe committed in October to replacing them by 2026. The International Ski Federation banned fluorine wax at the start of the 2023-2024 season.

In France, “substitute fire foams without PFAS have just been qualified after two years of work with the Ministry of the Environment,” indicates Ms. Smets. This "French initiative" needs time to adapt to become established, because it will be necessary to "rinse" the equipment using these foams and define "good practices".

Destroy PFAS?

“The particularity of these molecules is that they present a very strong bond between a carbon atom and a fluorine atom (...) To break this bond, four experimental methods are identified,” explains Mehran Mostafavi, from CNRS Chemistry.

"An 'enzymatic' method developed by biochemists, a method called + sono-chemistry + creating bubbles at very high temperature where the CF bonds break, a 'cold plasma' method using an electric arc in a PFAS solution , and a so-called “radiolytic” approach via ionizing radiation. “They have proven their effectiveness,” says Mehran Mostafavi, “the challenge now would be to move to an industrial scale.”