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What are Perflourinated Compounds (PFCs)?

There has been some hype about PFCs over the last couple of months, Alcontrol ran a very informative webinar on them, and now questions are…

What are Perflourinated Compounds (PFCs)?

There has been some hype about PFCs over the last couple of months, Alcontrol ran a very informative webinar on them, and now questions are popping up about target levels across discussion forums.

PFCs include compounds known as PFOS and PFOA, what you need to know is that they are classified as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).  In short, POPs are undesirable in the environment due to their, you guessed it, persistence.  They are known to accumulate through the food chain which means that all levels of the food chain are at risk from them.  The aim of grouping POPs together at the Stockholm Convention was to identify substances which should be eliminated from use and have their release restricted.  In addition, 12 priority POPs have been listed for elimination, however PFOS isnt one of them yet.

PFCs are best known for their use in fire-fighting compounds, and are also part of the Goretex production process.  It’s been reported that 50,000 litres of fire-fighting foam containing PFOS were used to control the Buncefield fire. How long and how far the effects that release will have may take a long time to discover.

Can anything be done to control PFCs?  Thankfully it can, certain chemical oxidants have a great record on remediating PFCs, and some fairly standard water filtration equipment can also be successful.

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to get in contact by e-mail or phone (0800 0209 307).

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