Fluoropolymers (PTFE, PVDF)
PTFE, PVDF and related plastics that resist heat and chemicals; vital for chips, batteries and seals, and a target of the EU PFAS restriction.
Pseudo-commodities · Engineering plastics · No. 56
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- about 0.4-0.5 Mt a year (2025, indicative, derived: about 15% of about 3 Mt HF at about 0.9 t HF per t polymer)
- 10.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 390461, 390469
Battery demand sent Chinese PVDF prices up fivefold in under two years, while Europe weighs banning the whole PFAS family.
Chart: Illustration: Fluoropolymers (PTFE, PVDF)
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Fluorspar becomes hydrofluoric acid, which makes fluorinated gases such as R22. These are cracked into monomers like TFE, too hazardous to ship, so they are polymerised on site.
Three things to know
- Chinese PVDF jumped from about $14,000 a tonne in April 2021 to about $70,000 by September 2022 on battery demand.
- Each tonne of PTFE needs about 1.7 t of R22, whose by-product HFC-23 has a 100-year warming potential of 14,600.
- EU scientific committees rejected a blanket exemption for fluoropolymers from the universal PFAS restriction in March 2026.
The journey
- 1 Fluorspar2.1-2.2 t per tonne of HF
- 2 HF and R22Chloroform plus HF gives HCFC-22
- 3 TFE monomerR22 pyrolysed at 700-900 C
- 4 PolymerisationIn water, polymerised on site
- 5 FabricationPTFE sintered; PVDF and FEP melt-processed