Chemical and power industry
The importance of fluoropolymers for the sector
The chemicals industry is recognised as an “enabling industry” by the European Commission due to its key role in providing innovative materials and technological solutions to support other industry sectors across the EU and its importance for the economy. Sales by the EU chemicals industry in 2018 amounted to €565 billion, about 17% of global chemicals sales. It is estimated that around 19 million jobs across value supply chains are supported by the chemicals industry. In addition, the energy sector, covering extraction, production and distribution directly employs in the EU about 1.6 million people and generates an added €250 billion to the economy.
Fluoropolymers are crucial for the European chemicals and power sectors and their transition towards more sustainability as they enable consequent efficiency gains, making the sectors both safer and more competitive. The unique combination of properties of fluoropolymers are used in corrosion, leak and emission prevention and tight process control in the chemical and power sectors. This combination of properties allows the European chemicals and power industries to be internationally competitive thanks to their high level of efficiency and environmentally safer operations in harsh environments.
Unique properties of fluoropolymers and their benefits for the sector
The unique properties of fluoropolymers make them crucial for the safe storage and handling of chemicals through protective equipment and linings. Their chemical stability allows them to be resistant to some of the most corrosive substances on the market, protecting workers and equipment from harm.
Their stability, durability, high non-stick and non-wetting properties provide a number of benefits including:
Corrosion and leak prevention
Chemical emission reduction
Higher uptime, lower maintenance cost and increased component lifetime
Cleaner power plant flue gasses and reduced CO₂ emission
Higher efficiency and production yield
Improved quality and purity of products
Waste reduction
People and environmental safety
Fluoropolymers and the future of the industry
Fluoropolymers are crucial enablers to significantly reduce emissions in both the chemical and power sectors with their respective downstream value chains.
- Air filtration for gas turbines using fluoropolymers is highly efficient in capturing virtually all particles even in challenging wet and humid conditions over a long lifetime in comparison to other filter systems.
- Mercury control systems for coal-fired utilities use fluoropolymers in the fixed sorbent system for capturing elemental and oxidized gas phase mercury from industrial flue gas containing SO3.
- Fluoropolymer membranes in fuel cells and vanadium redox flow batteries are critical technologies where fluoropolymers use is necessary.