The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a Significant New Rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act for alkanes C12-13, chloro, a short-chain chlorinated paraffin.
In the past, SCCPs were used in a variety of industrial applications, primarily as lubricants and coolants in metal cutting and metal forming operations. SCCPs are no longer in use.
The rule requires manufacturers – including importers – and processors of this C12-13 SCCP to notify EPA at least 90 days before starting or resuming new uses of the chemical. The notification allows EPA the opportunity to evaluate the intended uses and, if necessary, to prohibit or limit that activity. The rule is a prepublication version of the final rule that EPA is submitting for publication in the Federal Register.
SCCP use has already been restricted, and the EPA sees the need to reemphasize this fact in the SNUR they released at the end of 2014, Neil Canter of Chemical Solutions, Willow Grove, Pa., told Lube Report.
Chlorinated paraffins are chlorinated alkanes that have carbon chain lengths ranging from 10 to 38 with varying degrees of chlorination. They are broken down into three chlorinated paraffin groups: short-chain (C10-C13), medium-chain (C14-C17), and long-chain (C18-C38). After the National Toxicology Program designated short-chain CPs as carcinogenic in 1989, many fluid formulators switched to mid- and long-chain products or dropped CPs entirely.
In 2012, the two largest producers of chlorinated paraffins were fined by the EPA for selling short-, medium- and long-chain products without first submitting pre-manufacturing notifications at least 90 days before manufacture, as required by EPA. As part of a resolution to the issue, both companies agreed to stop selling short-chain materials.
For more information, visit the EPAs Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins Action Plan Summary web page.