3 ms·
> so breaking these bonds requires a tremendous amount of energy. Nope. C-F bonds are chemically very stable, but they exhibit high thermal reactivity and deg
by nate_meurer 6y ago
> so breaking these bonds requires a tremendous amount of energy.
Nope. C-F bonds are chemically very stable, but they exhibit high thermal reactivity and degrade far below proper incineration temperatures. Proper incineration, where the flu gasses are maintained at over 800 deg C, will easily drive all flourinated organics to their mineral endpoint, which is HF.
And none of this has anything to do with the sulfur. For one thing, most end-use PFA products don't contain any sulfur. PTFE, for example, has no sulfur in it, yet many of its thermal degradation products are quite toxic.
Sulfur is only present in chemicals used as surfactants, such as the water repellent coatings and fire retardants. But there is no evidence that merely cleaving the sulfonate group would make the compounds harmless.
- petertodd 6y agoGood example re: thermal reactivity is how teflon coated pans can kill birds if you let them overheat, eg by letting a pan boil dry: http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/other-pets/teflon-bird-guide/ http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/other-pets/teflon-bird-guid... Causes harm to humans too. But birds happen to be particularly susceptible. Looks like the research agrees with you re: incineration: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653519306435 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565351... "Results indicate that, within procedural quantitation limits, no statistically significant evidence was found that the PFAS studied were created during the incineration of PTFE. Therefore, municipal incineration of PTFE using best available technologies (BAT) is not a significant source of the studied PFAS and should be considered an acceptable form of waste treatment."