The Combustion Toxicology of Polyurethane Foams

Hartzell, Gordon E.

doi:10.1177/0021955x9202800403

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Human health impacts during the use phase—excepting combustion scenarios—were therefore assumed to be minimal. As far as combustion scenarios, research has found that health hazards from the combustion of products containing styrene (Sumi and Tsuchiya 1971) and phosphate‐free fire retardants (Hartzell 1992) (such as decaBDE, ATO, and ATH) are no greater than products not containing these chemicals. Therefore human health impacts of resin mixes A, B, and C were assumed to be similar during the use phase, further validating exclusion of the use phase from the LCA.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Health Impact as a Boundary Selection Criterion in the Life Cycle Assessment of Pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials

Basbagill

Lepech

Ali

2012

J of Industrial Ecology

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Summary The human health impact of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials manufactured by the pultrusion industry is not fully understood. In particular, it is unclear whether the human health impact of toxic chemicals present in low concentrations in fire retardant pultruded FRP materials is disproportionately high. This impact may be an important criterion when making boundary selection decisions in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of these materials. The North American pultrusion industry was surveyed to determine resin mix concentration levels and workplace inhalation toxicity exposure levels. LCAs were then conducted on three building panel resin mixes to determine whether the human health impact of toxic chemicals used in the mixes was low enough to exclude the chemicals from the life cycle inventory (LCI) boundary. The first resin mix represented a typical pultruded product, the second mix removed toxic chemicals present in small concentrations, and the third mix replaced toxic chemicals present in small concentrations with a nontoxic chemical. Results showed that toxicity levels fell below exposure limits and no significant difference in human health impact existed among the LCAs. The research concludes that human health impact is a useful criterion when defining an LCI boundary. Toxic chemicals present in small concentrations in pultruded FRP materials may be excluded from the LCI boundary, as their human health impacts are low. Because these levels are marginal in North American pultrusion factories, no changes in resin mixes are recommended for the pultrusion industry.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Health Impact as a Boundary Selection Criterion in the Life Cycle Assessment of Pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials

Basbagill

Lepech

Ali

2012

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…In small scale testing using flaming combustion, animal deaths occur during the exposure with %COHb consistent with CO poisoning [1]. In some small scale studies insufficient polyurethane foam could be tested in the apparatus to achieve lethal conditions.…”

Section: Small Scale Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general view in the fire science literature is that toxic hazards from flexible polyurethane foam are primarily from carbon monoxide with some secondary contribution from hydrogen cyanide [1]. However, there have been recent observations by Blomquist et al of isocyanates generated by fires involving nitrogen containing fuels [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxicity Assessment Of Products Of Combustion Of Flexible Polyurethane Foam

Beyler¹

2005

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the Eigth International Sy

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The scientific literature on the toxicity of products of combustion of flexible polyurethane foam is reviewed to assess its potential for use in toxic hazard analysis. Combustion modes examined include pyrolysis/thermal decomposition, smoldering, and open flaming, and under ventilated flaming combustion.The body of work indicates that victims exposed to products of combustion from flaming polyurethane will result in %COHb's generally consistent with simple CO exposure, despite the clear toxicological role of HCN. The N-gas fractional effective dose methodology for asphyxiant gases is an appropriate methodology for prediction of incapacitation due to exposure to products of combustion from flaming polyurethane.Conversely, there is significant scientific evidence that smoldering polyurethane foam produces as yet unidentified toxic species that results in deaths during the exposure and that the N-gas fractional effective dose methodology is not appropriate for smoldering combustion. Pyrolysis/thermal decomposition results in post-exposure deaths, consistent with irritant gases. The N-gas model is also not appropriate for pyrolysis/thermal decomposition.There are significant limitations in the experimental methods available that have had a negative impact on the study of toxic hazards. Adsorption and transport of toxicants on smoke particles, loss of toxicants to walls, and more chemically complex toxicants tend to be little studied or considered. There is a need to encourage more sophisticated chemical and physical analysis of fire effluents for complex toxic organic species. It can be argued that there is still a place for animal models when analytical methods and our mechanistic understanding of toxicology of complex organic species are lacking.

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“…12 During the PUFs' burning there is a risk of air pollution with toxic products of combustion (NCN, CO, NO, etc.). 13 On the other hand, during the degradation of "physical" blends of natural and synthetic polymers (the prevailing way of degradable polymer creation), primarily only a natural ingredients degrade while the synthetic components do not degrade significantly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradable polyurethane foams based on disaccharides

Savelyev

Markovskaya

Savelyeva

et al. 2015

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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New functional elastic polyurethane foams (PUF) degradable under environmental abiotic and biotic factors, retaining all the inherent properties of the conventional foams were synthesized using isocyanate precursors based on disaccharides (DS): lactose, maltose and saccharose. It was shown by the model reactions of monosaccharide glucose, and DS lactose and saccharose, with phenylisocyanate that both the primary and secondary hydroxyls of the carbohydrates reacted to form urethanes. The main properties of DS-based foams (PUF/DS) were found to be similar to PUF foam (matrix) prepared with conventional polyols. However, the new PUF/DS were found to undergo enhanced acid/alkaline hydrolysis and degradation compared with PUF matrix when incubated in soil. Mass losses of incubated PUF/DSs significantly exceeded the actual carbohydrate content 28.6%, and in 12 months reached 39.58 (PUF-4), 53.31(PUF-8), and 47.25 (PUF-12). In contrast, under the same conditions PUF matrix lost only 2-2.5%, confirming that incorporation of natural compounds into the polymer chain impacted the degradation processes. PUF/DS were characterized by FTIR, 1 H NMR, ebullioscopy, and exclusion chromatography (molecular masses and molecular mass distribution of the oligomeric model), physical and mechanical tests (density, tensile strength, relative elongation, moisture absorption, vapor permeability), morphology, and degradation in the soil.

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The Combustion Toxicology of Polyurethane Foams

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Human Health Impact as a Boundary Selection Criterion in the Life Cycle Assessment of Pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials

Human Health Impact as a Boundary Selection Criterion in the Life Cycle Assessment of Pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials

Toxicity Assessment Of Products Of Combustion Of Flexible Polyurethane Foam

Degradable polyurethane foams based on disaccharides

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