A new technique for making fluorochemicals bypasses the production of hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas. This could make fluorochemical production safer, and the researchers who developed the method say it also has the potential to streamline supply chains and decrease energy requirements, helping to lower the industry’s carbon footprint.
All of the fluorine atoms in fluorochemicals that are currently manufactured originate from the naturally occurring mineral calcium fluoride, which is also known as fluorspar. To produce fluorochemicals, fluorspar must be converted into HF through an energy-intensive process involving the reaction of acid-grade fluorspar with sulfuric acid at high temperatures.
However, HF is highly toxic and, despite strict safety protocols, several spill incidents have occurred, with damaging effects on the environment and, in some cases, fatal outcomes.
Because of this a team led by researchers from the University of Oxford, UK, set out to develop a safer and more sustainable fluorination method to enable academic researchers and industry to access fluorochemicals directly from fluorspar while avoiding the production of HF.
‘Fluorochemicals are prominent in all of our daily lives and have an enormous impact on society from medicines to materials,’ says Oxford-based PhD student Calum Patel. ‘But hydrogen fluoride has gained notoriety in the press more recently in the context of spillages and industrial accidents.’