Session Details

Session 6: Responses to PFAS/PFOA

Abstract Number:

30

With continued pressure to monitor and eliminate PFAS ‎compounds from the Plating Industry, this ‎presentation will outline ‎a path forward for Plating on Plastic and Decorative Chrome ‎applicators. ‎

Topics:

Advances in Surface Finishing Technology
Technology Responses ‎to REACh/Regulations

This presentation will closely follow the case study of one facility’s ‎conversion from PFAS containing wetting agents to non-PFAS ‎equivalents, thereby eliminating all new additions of PFAS and ‎moving forward with a smaller and more sustainable environmental ‎footprint. The journey of conversion from PFAS containing wetting ‎agents in both chromo-sulfuric etch and hexavalent decorative ‎plating tanks can be complicated and winding due to deep rooted ‎standard industry practices, as well as state and federal regulations. ‎Outlined in this presentation is a clear and direct course of action ‎that lead to this, and other, facilities eliminating PFAS from their ‎wetting agent strategies.‎

‎This plating facility is a large decorative plating on plastic company ‎that supplies the automotive market. In less than one year this ‎company has successfully navigated the conversion process and are ‎fully converted to non-PFAS wetting agents in both the etch and ‎decorative chrome tanks while maintaining their high quality, ‎workplace and environmental standards. This roadmap and case ‎study will allow other plating facilities in every EPA region a fast track ‎to a future with non-PFAS wetting agents.‎