HBCD in Insulation Materials : XRF in Preliminary Detection
Honkala, Inka (2018)
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018060111874
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018060111874
Tiivistelmä
Due to a new amendment to a piece of legislation on persistent organic pollutants, consistent methods are needed to properly detect, process and dispose of a newly added substance, hexabromocyclododecane, which has now been globally banned from use.
Bromine based flame retardants like HBCD have been used increasingly in construction materials since the 1960s to meet fire safety requirements, so it will be widely present in demolition waste in the years to come. HBCD has been used especially in insulating materials such as expanded and extruded plastics, but it could also be present in imported packaging materials of electronics and other products. No samples of packaging materials containing HBCD were found during this study.
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) cannot be visually detected, nor has it been marked or labeled on the products it has been used in. Because chemical laboratory analyses to detect HBCD are time-consuming and the volume of construction waste considerable, a faster on-site method is needed.
An x-ray fluorescence gun can detect bromine from plastics. Because HBCD contains bromine, XRF can be used to estimate whether HBCD could be present, although the results are not conclusive enough to replace more accurate laboratory analyses entirely.
The method described in this thesis work appears to be suitable for identifying materials that have not been treated with any brominated flame retardants, but additional steps need to be taken to tell HBCD apart from other brominated compounds.
Bromine based flame retardants like HBCD have been used increasingly in construction materials since the 1960s to meet fire safety requirements, so it will be widely present in demolition waste in the years to come. HBCD has been used especially in insulating materials such as expanded and extruded plastics, but it could also be present in imported packaging materials of electronics and other products. No samples of packaging materials containing HBCD were found during this study.
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) cannot be visually detected, nor has it been marked or labeled on the products it has been used in. Because chemical laboratory analyses to detect HBCD are time-consuming and the volume of construction waste considerable, a faster on-site method is needed.
An x-ray fluorescence gun can detect bromine from plastics. Because HBCD contains bromine, XRF can be used to estimate whether HBCD could be present, although the results are not conclusive enough to replace more accurate laboratory analyses entirely.
The method described in this thesis work appears to be suitable for identifying materials that have not been treated with any brominated flame retardants, but additional steps need to be taken to tell HBCD apart from other brominated compounds.