Some in industry making quick moves to PFAS alternatives

Baltimore — Companies making PFAS-free alternative products for the plastics industry see change coming quickly.

As an example, Robert Sherman, a U.S.-based researcher for German additive maker Baerlocher GmbH, told a recent conference that the switch away from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to alternative chemicals in the manufacturing process is, at times, happening rapidly.

"What normally takes a decade, in some cases, took less than six months," said Sherman, the U.S. technical director for Baerlocher. "In the polyolefin industry, this is something that doesn't happen, you don't make rapid changes."

Sherman gathered with over 150 other researchers and executives Oct. 29-30 in Baltimore at a Society of Plastics Engineers conference focused on finding alternatives to PFAS in the industry.

Similarly, another industry researcher, Michael McClaren, a regulatory affairs scientist at Ingenia Polymers in Brantford, Ontario, said his company's development of PFAS alternatives has moved quickly.

"All of this has happened really fast," McLaren said. "Four years is not a long time to do this sort of novel product development, when we're facing down these quickly changing regulations."

Both Baerlocher and Ingenia make polymer processing aids used in extrusion, where they are designed to prevent melt fracturing and uneven surfaces on films, pipes, cables and other products.

Even those making the alternatives say that, historically, the fluoropolymers used as processing aids have worked well.

But with the human health effects of PFAS coming under more scrutiny by regulators and legislators, executives and scientists gathered at SPE's Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Plastics Industry conference to look at the status of alternatives in processing aids, additives and coatings.

The demand for PFAS-free products from big retailers and consumer brands is prompting some to develop tests for measuring PFAS chemicals in plastic products and other consumer goods.

Michael Deible, a consulting scientist at laboratory and research firm RJ Lee Group, said companies with plastic parts in their products are asking RJ Lee for PFAS-free certifications they can give to their customers.

He named retailer Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. as an example.

"We've had a lot of clients come to us and say, 'Hey, Dick's isn't going to sell my plastic thingy until I tell them there's no PFAS in it. How do I do that?' " Deible told the SPE event.

He said RJ Lee and others want to develop a test for measuring 46 PFAS chemicals in plastic consumer products, using ASTM 8535 as an initial framework.

"We want to make a simple, straightforward method that every lab can use, that's validated across laboratories, so that everyone can compare apples-to-apples on their PFAS test," Deible said.

At the conference, he presented preliminary results from the test, which analyzed plastics products like gas cans, pet food bags, straws and food wrappers, as well as cardboard pizza boxes, shirts, carpet remnants and coated metal pans.

"Right now, if you have a question of whether you have PFAS in your product and you send it to three different labs, you'll probably get three different answers because not everybody is using the same test," he said.

Mike Dimitriou, principal at consultancy Exponent, said testing is complicated because there's not one definition of PFAS used by all governments.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Substances Control Act requires two continuous fluorinated carbon atoms, for example, while regulations in California and Maine require only one fluorinated carbon atom, he said.

Dimitriou noted both the strong performance of fluorinated chemicals across many applications — from fire-fighting foams to building materials to food packaging — and the rising concerns about health and environmental impacts from some of them.

Recent years have seen a big increase in PFAS regulations and legislation in states and the federal government, he said.

"It's only been in the last two years that the number of regulations and their impact have dramatically increased," Dimitriou said, noting state legislation calling for PFAS bans in consumer products.

"I think this all comes back to the fact that the regulations are really moving awfully fast, they're moving faster than the science can keep up," he said. "It really comes back to the fact that there's no consensus on… the definition of PFAS, but also a lot of work needs to be done on testing methods to identify both quick but accurate means of testing."

One speaker urged companies to go beyond seeking PFAS-free products and aim to be fluorine free.

David Zamarin, CEO of DetraPel Inc., a maker of fluorine-free coatings, said companies have been marketing products with silicone-fluorine chemistry as PFAS-free, because they do not contain the fluorine-carbon bonds of PFAS chemistry.

But Zamarin called that marketing "a little deceitful."

He spoke about working with one of DetraPel's suppliers to develop a new PFAS-free coating. The material worked well in early pilot tests in the application for DetraPel's customer, so the companies began scaling up.

But lab tests still showed a "massive spike in fluorine despite being told there was no PFAS inside the chemistry," Zamarin said.

The supplier then told DetraPel they were using a silicone-fluorine compound.

"What we ended up learning when we asked our supplier about this, was that they mentioned, very rightfully so, that there was no PFAS in this. This isn't a carbon fluorine or fluorocarbon molecule," Zamarin said.

"Instead, they were using a silicone fluorine molecule, which by definition is not considered a PFAS," he said. "And so, while we would say that's a little deceitful, it's technically 100 percent accurate."

He argued that companies should move away from fluorine when possible, toward a solution that doesn't "have any bad actor substitutes."

"We think that the best way is to completely eliminate the fluorine compound or PFAS compounds, when possible, as long as performance isn't sacrificed and there isn't an additional harmful effect to other sustainability metrics," Zamarin said.

He sees industries moving away from PFAS chemistries.

"We believe that a variety of industries will see a significant shift," he said.

Companies making alternative technologies to fluorination coating of plastics containers also told the conference they see some industries seeking out options, as EPS has sought to crack down on the process over concerns that it inadvertently releases PFAS into the environment.

There are about 150 million to 200 million plastic containers fluorinated in the U.S. annually, but "the industries that we work with are very much in the mode of looking for alternatives," said Kevin Callahan, chief operating officer of BP Polymers LLC, which makes a nylon-based additive that acts as a barrier within PE and polypropylene containers.

"Fluorination of plastic containers is very widespread, a lot more widespread than people realize," Callahan said. "We're working with a number of different industries — automotive, pesticides, food, flavor, cosmetics, health and beauty aids — in order to get them to a position where they can transition away from fluorination, or use this as an alternative or secondary backup."

One company using the BP Polymers technology, CKS Packaging Inc., said some customers need convincing before they're comfortable with new barrier technology.

"Really the biggest challenge for us in implementing this technology is managing through the change that's associated with it," said Mike Bonsignore, chief sustainability officer with CKS. "We're selling a new technology to the customer and a lot of times, they don't understand it, they're not familiar with it. They like to stick with that they're doing."

He said CKS's founder and primary owner, Charles Sewell, decided in July 2021 that the company "would not participate in fluorinating containers anymore."

CKS, which has 27 factories in the United States and estimated annual sales of $750 million, is one of North America's largest blow molding companies.

Bonsignore, in a joint presentation with Callahan, told the conference that CKS will ship more than 2 million containers with BP's technology this year to more than a dozen customers. He said the company is poised to scale up its barrier capabilities.

"We've achieved some limited commercial success with some good things in the pipeline," Bonsignore said.

He said the agricultural chemicals industry is proving to be one of the more challenging sectors to convince to switch barrier technology.

"The ag chem industry, as you all know, is one of the holdouts," Bonsignore said. "The pain of conversion for packaging in that industry is high. Resistance to change is there and understandable."

Callahan said BP is working with 15 packaging converters in North America, as well as others in South America, Europe and Australia.

One industry consultant and publisher of PFAS-related newsletters told the conference that amid the growing concern about PFAS chemicals, investors and venture capitalists see major business opportunities in funding startups developing alternatives.

"Someone once called me the PFAS prophet of doom. I don't mean to sound that way, there are a lot of opportunities" said Matthew Von Hendy, a consultant with Green Heron Information Services and founder of the Business of PFAS and other newsletters.

"There's a tremendous amount of interest right now in PFAS-related startups or companies that are looking to solve the PFAS issues, in the investment world, particularly with the VC startups," he said.

Von Hendy said many of the startups are smaller than the larger companies in the plastics industry that presented their products at the SPE conference, and more of those startups are in Europe.

"Most of these are located in Europe," Von Hendy said. "When it comes to green alternatives for PFAS startups, Europe is probably five years ahead of the U.S."