A New Capacitor Fluid—A Case Study in Product Stewardship

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Abstract
Product stewardship is a commitment to exercising responsible care during the manufacturing, use, and ultimate disposal of chemical products. An important part of product stewardship is the generation of an adequate data base to assess the potential hazards of a new product. A new capacitor fluid (Dow's XFS-4169L) is a working example of product stewardship. Electrically, the fluid has been found to perform as well as or better than capacitor-grade polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in capacitors. Assessment of its health and environmental acceptability was based on the composite interpretation of movement, stability, bioconcentration, and toxicity data.The use pattern, sediment binding, and recommended disposal suggest that only small amounts of the new capacitor fluid will enter the aquatic environment. The routes for leaving the aquatic environment—biodegradation and volatilization—allow only very low concentrations of the capacitor fluid to remain in water. The bioconcentration potential of the fluid is low enough so that residue levels in fish are not critical to the health of the fish or animal consumers, and its toxicity to aquatic organisms is similar to that of a large group of commodity chemicals and less than PCB's.