Shipments of used GenX material scrutinized

Abstract

To meet demands for nonstick-pan coatings and fuel-cell components, Chemours depends on a fluorinated chemical called GenX. This compound helps building-block materials link together into tough, resistant plastics and industrial membranes. During the process of making these materials, GenX, an ammonium salt, ends up in water and hydrolyzes into hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA). The three Chemours plants that use GenX extract HFPO-DA from process wastewater so the material can be remade into GenX. Now, as environmental concerns about these fluorinated chemicals mount, Dutch and US environmental regulators are taking a close look at Chemours’s practice of shipping reclaimed HFPO-DA from its plant in the city of Dordrecht, the Netherlands, to one in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In addition, Dutch authorities are raising concerns about the environmental release of HFPO-containing material as it is hauled for reprocessing or disposal. Chemours’s Fayetteville Works facility manufactures virgin GenX. For years, it has also