Residual vinyl chloride levels in U.S. PVC resins and products: Historical perspective and update

Abstract

The vinyl industry made dramatic changes in the production of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) resin in the 1970s to comply with regulations governing workplace exposure and environmental emissions of vinyl chloride monomer (VC or VCM), after it was recognized that vinyl chloride was a human carcinogen. These changes required extensive and costly modifications to the monomer and polymer production processes and the development of resin formulations from which residual monomer could be removed more easily from the polymerized matrix. Reductions of vinyl chloride emissions from PVC production facilities continued over the past two decades, driven both by voluntary initiatives to optimize the manufacturing process and by regulatory requirements, such as state operating permit limits related to incremental production expansion or modification at existing facilities. Surveys of recent resin data, reviews of pipe product certification reports, and recent food package testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show that current residual vinyl chloride monomer (RVCM) levels in all grades of PVC resin typically are significantly below acceptable levels and that resulting fabricated products are typically at nondetect levels to very low parts-per-billion (ppb) levels. J. VINYL. ADDIT. TECHNOL., 11:65–69, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers