Dusseldorf The EU Commission is planning a comprehensive ban on so-called PFAS chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals” because of their long shelf life. The industry criticizes that this is dangerous from a technological point of view. Because PFAS are not only used in cosmetics or packaging, but also in technologies that are crucial for industrial production and the green transformation.
For example, the eternal chemicals are crucial substances for lithium batteries, wind turbines, fuel cells and computer chips. The problem: So far there has been no alternative to PFAS, at least in high-tech applications. On Wednesday, the mechanical engineering association VDMA warned in a position paper of the consequences of such a ban. Chip manufacturers see Europe’s ambitions to make the EU the new production center for semiconductors in danger.
“We are already seeing distortions in the market from the discussion about a possible PFAS ban, such as postponed investments and the exit of important suppliers,” says Sebastian Goldner, CTO of the fuel cell manufacturer Proton Motor Fuel Cell from Puchheim near Munich. “This is a potentially life-threatening situation for us.”
PFAS are used in many industrial processes
The EU Commission is planning an almost complete ban on PFAS. In the spring, environmental authorities from several individual states took the lead in submitting a proposal. In 2025, the then incumbent commission should decide on a ban.
PFAS – the abbreviation stands for perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds – are extremely stable substances that are resistant to water and dirt. On the one hand, they can be found in outdoor products, crockery, cosmetics or food packaging.
We are already seeing distortions in the market from the discussion about a possible PFAS ban, such as investments being postponed and important suppliers leaving. Sebastian Goldner, CTO of Proton Motor Fuel Cell
However, PFAS are also used in a large number of industrial processes, in hoses and seals, but also in refrigerants or hydrogen electrolysers. There, the chemicals are used to make the building components resistant to heat, pressure and abrasion.
The technically important substances have a downside: the 10,000 or so compounds can only be broken down with great difficulty or not at all and accumulate in nature. This is how they get into food chains and the water cycle. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suspects that even low PFAS levels pose a risk to human health – and possibly a trigger for cancer.
Environmental authorities insist on the precautionary principle
Environmental authorities do not want to wait until potential toxicity for all substances has been proven. “The damage that long-lived PFAS can cause in the environment in the long term is often still unexplored,” says Dirk Messner, President of the Federal Environment Agency, which was involved in recommending a ban in the EU. “We are therefore trying with the proposal that has now been published to ban these substances in the EU as far as possible. This is the right step for precautionary reasons.”
That is why the proposal provides for only a few exceptions, for example for use in medicines and plant protection products. There should be fixed transitional periods for individual applications, in some cases longer than ten years. The problem with this is that there are currently no alternatives for important applications. Their development could take decades.
The industry sees the procedure as an “undifferentiated general ban”. “As a result, we in Europe are losing all future-oriented key technologies,” says Ingrid Hunger, managing partner of the seal manufacturer Hunger DFE from Würzburg. “Many medium-sized companies in particular will be on the verge of collapse and the associated jobs will be lost.”
What damage the long-lived PFAS can cause in the environment in the long term is often still unexplored. Dirk Messner, President of the Federal Environment Agency
The industry is therefore demanding exceptions for PFAS substances that are in machines and therefore do not come into contact with the environment. In addition, the harmfulness of certain subgroups is low, says Gunther Kegel, head of the automation company Pepperl + Fuchs from Mannheim. In fact, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) classifies a number of PFAS as “polymers of low concern”, i.e. as non-hazardous to the environment.
Non-governmental organizations are critical of the lobbying that industry is currently intensifying against a possible PFAS ban. According to a blog post by the Corporate Europe Observatory, which monitors lobbying in Brussels, industry and especially chemistry has repeatedly managed to soften new protective regulations for health and the environment.
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Entrepreneur Kegel, who is also President of the Electrical and Digital Industry Association ZVEI, opposes this. “With a far-reaching ban, the industry is faced with the insurmountable task of developing an alternative so as not to inhibit the green transformation,” he says.
Alternatives to PFAS usually only exist in single and simple applications. For example, consumer goods producer Werner & Mertz (“Frosch” brand) has developed waterproofing for functional clothing that does not require PFAS. This is sufficient for average outdoor fans, explains the Mainz-based company, but not for firefighters’ equipment to protect them from oil and heat.
Imbalance for European economy
The semiconductor industry in particular would be severely affected by a ban. “The general restriction of PFAS endangers the semiconductor industry in Europe and the goals of the European Chips Act,” warned the ZVEI. Because the use of many PFAS is essential in chip production.
The major chip manufacturers are committed to looking for alternatives. But they are not in sight. “Chip fabrication without the safe use of PFAS is definitely not possible at present, as there are currently no chemical substances that would be equally suitable to carry out the necessary chemical processes,” the paper says.
The semiconductor industry cannot do without PFAS substances.
(Photo: dpa)
A ban would also affect the manufacturers of heat pumps: so-called F-gases in the refrigerants of the devices are assigned to the substance group. At least there is an alternative: There are first devices on the market that use propane gas. The heating industry is already developing other alternative refrigerants – but they are also demanding longer transition periods when the EU regulates PFAS.
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