Different flame retardants should be developed in a balanced and coordinated manner to give play to their respective importance

2022-07-20 17:18:51

Whether the flame retardant is environmentally friendly is not determined by any organization or environmental label, but by the structure and performance of the flame retardant itself. Environment friendly flame retardants must meet the following three conditions: first, green flame retardants must be non PBT substances (pbt: persistent, bio cumulative and toxic), that is, the release of chemicals to the environment does not have persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity, and should be non CMR substances (cmr: carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction), that is, there is no carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxicity effects on human body; Secondly, green flame retardants have the least impact on the environment in the whole product life cycle, whether it is in the upstream raw material extraction, production and transportation or downstream recycling. Environmental friendly flame retardants have little environmental release, less energy consumption and emissions in the life cycle and are easy to recycle; Finally, green flame retardants must meet the regulatory and performance requirements of relevant regulations. Based on the above three standards, most halogenated flame retardants are green and environmentally friendly at present.

In addition, based on the fact that any chemical, including flame retardants, may have undetected risks, large flame retardant manufacturers have also actively organized and carried out the "voluntary action plan for release control (vecap)", actively calling on manufacturers and downstream users to continuously improve their processes, recycle packaging bags, reduce the release of flame retardants to the environment, and minimize potential hazards.

Halogen free flame retardants and halogenated flame retardants have different properties, advantages and disadvantages, and application fields, and should not favor one over the other. Different flame retardants should be developed in a balanced and coordinated manner to play their respective important roles in fire safety.

According to whether it contains halogen elements (mainly bromine and chlorine elements), flame retardants can be divided into halogen flame retardants and halogen-free flame retardants. Among them, halogenated flame retardants (mainly brominated flame retardants) started early, with mature technology and nearly 100 kinds of products. Common products include decabromodiphenyl ether, decabromodiphenylethane, tetrabromobisphenol A, hexabromocyclododecane, etc; Halogen free flame retardants started late. Common products include phosphorus based flame retardants such as phosphate esters and red phosphorus, nitrogen-containing flame retardants such as melamine, which are well-known to the public, and inorganic mineral flame retardants such as aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide. At present, halogen flame retardants are the main flame retardants used in modified plastics in China, and most electronic and electrical products contain halogen flame retardants. Therefore, halogenated flame retardants play an important role in the Chinese market and show a sustained and stable growth trend.