Abstract
Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas perfluorocyclobutane (c-C4F8, PFC-318, octafluorocyclobutane) into the global atmosphere inferred from atmospheric measurements have been increasing sharply since the early 2000s. We find that these inferred emissions are highly correlated with the production of hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22, CHClF2) for feedstock (FS) uses, because almost all HCFC-22 FS is pyrolyzed to produce (poly)tetrafluoroethylene ((P)TFE) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP), a process in which c-C4F8 is a known by-product, causing a significant fraction of global c-C4F8 emissions. We find a global emission factor of ∼0.003 kg c-C4F8 per kilogram of HCFC-22 FS pyrolyzed. Mitigation of these c-C4F8 emissions, e.g., through process optimization, abatement, or different manufacturing processes, such as refined methods of electrochemical fluorination and waste recycling, could reduce the climate impact of this industry. While it has been shown that c-C4F8 emissions from developing countries dominate global emissions, more atmospheric measurements and/or detailed process statistics are needed to quantify c-C4F8 emissions at country to facility levels.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3371-3378 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements. Overall operation of the AGAGE network, including the measurements at Mace Head, Trinidad Head, Cape Matatula, Ragged Point, and Cape Grim, was supported by National Aeronautics and Space Administration grants to SIO and MIT. Additional funding was provided by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to the University of Bristol for Mace Head and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the University of Bristol for Ragged Point. We thank the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Australia) and the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) for their ongoing long-term support and funding of the Cape Grim station and the Cape Grim science program. Sunyoung Park and operations of the Gosan station on Jeju Island, South Korea, were supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT). Lambert J. M. Kuijpers was supported by A/gent. Matthew Rigby and Luke M. Western were supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. We are indebted to the staff and scientists at AGAGE and other sites for their continuing contributions to produce high-quality measurements of atmospheric trace gases. We thank David Sherry (Nolan Sherry & Associates), Andy Lindley (UNEP Medical and Chemicals Technical Options Committee, MC-TOC) and Deborah Ottinger (U.S. EPA), as well as the four anonymous reviewers for their invaluable insights and excellent suggestions on how to improve the manuscript.
Funding Information:
Financial support. This research has been supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant nos. NNX16AC96G, NNX16AC97G, and NNX16AC98G), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government (grant no. 1537/06/2018), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (grant no. 1305M319CNRMJ0028), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Government, the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant no. 2020R1A2C3003774), and the Natural Environment Research Council (grant nos. NE/S004211/1, NE/V002996/1, and NE/N016548/1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Jens Mühle et al.
Research Groups and Themes
- Organic & Biological
- Physical & Theoretical
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