Process Data set: tetrafluoroethylene production; technology mix; production mix, at plant; 100% active substance (en) en
Process information
| Key Data Set Information | |
| Location | EU+EFTA+UK |
| Reference year | 2017 |
| Name |
Base name
; Treatment, standards, routes
; Mix and location types
; Quantitative product or process properties
tetrafluoroethylene production; technology mix; production mix, at plant; 100% active substance
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| Use advice for data set | Notice: this data set supersedes the EF3.0-compliant version (see link under "preceding data set version" below calculated with the EF3.0). The life cycle inventory is not changed from the original EF3.0 data set. The LCIA results are calculated based on the EF3.1 methods which provide updated characterisation factors in the following impact categories: Climate Change, Ecotoxicity freshwater, Photochemical Ozone Formation, Acidification, Human Toxicity non-cancer, and Human Toxicity cancer. The review report and the data quality ratings refer to the original results. The data set has been updated by the European Commission on the basis of the original EF3.0 data set delivered by the data provider. |
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Class name
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Hierarchy level
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| General comment on data set | TYPE OF DATASET Each chemical compound is provided in aggregated (LCI results) and level-1 disaggregated (unit process, single operation) form. For more information, see the report (ecoinvent Association, 2020, Data on the Production of Chemicals created for the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) transition phase implementation, www.ecoinvent.org, ecoinvent Association, Zurich, Switzerland). This dataset represents the LCI results. PROCESS DESCRIPTION This dataset represents the production of 1 kg of fluoroethylene (TFE). TFE is the most important fluoroolefin; it is used mainly for the production of fluoropolymers such as polyfluoroethylene (PTFE). PTFE resin is used primarily in electrical applications such as insulation, flexible printed circuits, and piezoelectric devices. Tetrafluoroethylene is also used in the production of low molecular mass compounds and intermediates, e.g., for the manufacture of iodoperfluoroalkanes (Siegemund et al. 2016). The activity starts when the raw materials enter the process. This activity includes the inventory for the production, an estimation for the infrastructure, but does not include by-products. References ecoinvent (2017) Data on the Production of Chemicals created for the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) pilot phase implementation, www.ecoinvent.org, ecoinvent Association, Zürich, Switzerland Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de Althaus H.-J., Chudacoff M., Hischier R., Jungbluth N., Osses M. and Primas A. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals. Final report ecoinvent data v2.0 No. 8. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, CH. Siegemund, G., Schwertfeger, W., Feiring, A., Smart, B., Behr, F., Vogel, H., McKusick, B. and Kirsch, P. 2016. Fluorine Compounds, Organic. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Water content of the reference product: 0.0 kg Biogenic carbon content of the reference product: 0.0 kg DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT The data quality ratings for the datasets were determined as the average of the 5 individual ratings for Technological Representativeness, Geographical Representativeness, Time-related representativeness, Precision/uncertainty, and implementation of the End of Life Formula. The final scores for these 5 descriptors were determined by the independent, external reviewer after a discussion with the internal reviewers. The basis for this determination was generally a contribution analysis of the material and energy inputs as well as direct resource uses and emissions. This process was required by the tender. The contribution analysis is based on the most important flows in the dataset, defined in the tender specifications as "the unit processes contributing cumulatively to at least to 80% of the total environmental impact based on characterised and normalised results". In addition to unit processes, direct emissions also qualified as input exchanges for this approach. For the normalization, the normalisation factors "EC-JRC Global (2010 or 2013), per person" available at http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?page_id=140 were used. For each parameter, the DQR scores were chosen to best reflect the conditions and quality of the amount value, the appropriateness of the chosen exchange for the specific needs of the system under analysis, and the quality of the foreground and background data for aggregated inputs of exchanges from the technosphere, i.e. not direct emissions or resource uses. ENERGY AND TRANSPORT INFORMATION SOURCE Energy and transport was used in both the foreground and background of this dataset. When building the dataset, energy and transport demands were supplied directly by datasets provided by Sphera. The background for every other input from technosphere uses a modified version of the ecoinvent database, created specifically for the PEF. In this version, every instance of energy and transport supply, anywhere in the database, was replaced by a dataset from Sphera. This ensures that every demand for energy and transport, in the foreground and in the background, is supplied by a Sphera dataset. BILL OF MATERIALS The bill of material includes the following inputs: chemical factory, organics: 4e-10 unit chlorodifluoromethane: 1.8105 kg municipal solid waste: -0.001223 kg nitrogen, liquid: 0.019 kg refinery sludge: -0.0043885 kg Thermal energy (MJ): 4.75 MJ. NOT INCLUDED EXCHANGES All known elementary exchanges are included. PROCESS DIAGRAM LEGEND The file 'Diagram of data for chemicals EF3.0' presents the general structure of the processes created for the EF chemical data. A complete flow diagram for the selected process is available in the relevant section. |
| Copyright | Yes |
| Owner of data set | |
| Quantitative reference | |
| Reference flow(s) | |
| Biogenic carbon content | |
| Time representativeness | |
| Data set valid until | 2024 |
| Technological representativeness | |
| Technology description including background system | The production of fluorochemicals and PTFE monomers can be summarized with the following chemical reactions (Cedergren et al. 2001): CaF2 + H2SO4 -> CaSO4 + 2HF (1) CH4 + 3Cl2 -> CHCl3 + 3HCl (2) CHCl3 + 2HF -> CHClF2 + 2HCl (3) 2 CHClF2 + heat -> CF2=CF2 + 2 HCl (4) This dataset represents the last reaction step (4). Parts of the production are carried out at high pressure and high temperature, 590 ºC – 900 ºC. The first reaction (1) takes place in the presence of heat and HSO3 - and steam. The inventory for the production of hydrogen fluoride can be found in the report (Jungbluth 2003a). Reaction (2) is used to produce trichloromethane. Reaction 3 for the production of chlorodifluoromethane takes place in the presence of a catalyst. The production of PTFE (4) takes place under high temperature pyrolysis conditions. Large amounts of hydrochloric acid (HCl) are generated as a couple product during the process and are sold as a 30% aqueous solution. A large number of other by-products and emissions is formed in the processes (benzene, dichloromethane, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, R134a, and vinyl chloride) and small amounts of the highly toxic perfluoroisobutylene CF2=C(CF3)2. The by-products in the production of monomers can harm the processes of polymerisation. Because of this, the refinement of the production of monomers has to be very narrow. This makes the process complex and it contributes to a high cost for the PTFE-laminates. (Cedergren et al. 2001). |
| Flow diagram(s) or picture(s) | |
Modelling and validation
Administrative information
Inputs and Outputs
LCIA results