Brominated Flame Retardants

1. Introduction to Brominated Flame Retardants

1.1 Flame retardants
1.2 The Chemistry of Brominated Flame Retardants
1.2.1 Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers
1.2.2 Polybrominated Bipenyls
1.2.3 Tetrabromobisphenol A and Derivatives
1.2.4 Hexabromocyclododecane
1.2.5 Other Brominated Flame Retardants
1.3 European and Global Consumption of Flame Retardants
1.4 Emission from Products in Service

1.1 Flame retardants

Flame retardants are added to polymeric materials, both natural and synthetic, to enhance the flame-retardancy properties of the polymers.

There are four main families of flame-retardant chemicals:

	Inorganic flame retardants including aluminium trioxide, magnesium hydroxide, ammonium polyphosphate and red phosphorus. This group represents about 50% by volume of the global flame retardant production /9/.
	Halogenated flame retardants, primarily based on chlorine and bromine. The brominated flame retardants are included in this group. This group represents about 25% by volume of the global production /9/.
	Organophosphorus flame retardants are primarily phosphate esters and represent about 20% by volume of the global production /9/. Organophosphorus flame retardants may contain bromine or chloride.
	Nitrogen-based organic flame retardants are used for a limited number of polymers.

Global production figures and trends in consumption are discussed further in section 1.3.

About 350 different substances used as flame retardants are described in the literature. The index of Flame Retardant /13/, an international guide to more than 1000 products by trade name, chemical, application, and manufacturer, contains more than 200 chemicals used in commercial flame retardants. A comprehensive list of flame retardants is compiled by the Swedish National Chemical Inspectorate /14/.

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