Identification and assessment of alternatives to selected phthalates

Summary
In this study a number of alternative plasticisers to the phthalates DEHP,
DBP and BBP are described and assessed. Suitable alternative plasticisers
have been identified for most applications of the phthalates, and 10 of these
have been assessed in detail. Some of the assessed alternative plasticisers have
a broad application scope, others are more specialised. Plasticiser alternatives
to DEHP, first of all the plasticisers DINA, DINCH, DEHT, ATBC and
ASE are marketed at somewhat higher to significantly higher prices than the
price of DEHP. The results of the assessment further indicate that alternatives
to DBP and BBP are available for the major applications of the substances, at
prices quite similar to the prices of the phthalates.
All 10 assessed substances are expected to have low acute toxicity based on
animal studies. For three of the assessed alternatives data exists demonstrating
that they cannot be considered CMR substances (carcinogenic, mutagenic,
reprotoxic); for the other alternatives data for at least one critical parameter
are missing. The toxicological data for DEGD and DGD, two of the available
alternatives to DBP and BBP in polymeric applications (plastics), indicate
that the substances might be some effect on reproduction, but the results are
not statistically significant and more data are necessary for a clear conclusion.
With regard to the environmental properties, none of the 10 studied alternatives
meet the criteria for being PBT substances (persistent, bioaccumulative
and toxic in the aquatic environment) or vPvB substances (very persistent and
very bioaccumulative), although all substances except GTA show one or two
of these properties.
Ortho-phthalates are a group of substances which have together proven to be
widely applicable for plasticising purposes. Especially the general plasticisers
DEHP, DINP and DIDP have had high importance due to their very wide
applicability in PVC. DBP and BBP are specialty plasticisers which in polymer
applications typically have been used together with other plasticisers in
order to obtain specific processing conditions or material properties. The wide
range of applications combined with comparatively low prices have made the
ortho-phthalates the preferred choice of plasticiser for the PVC industry for
many years and phthalates account today for about 90% of the total plasticiser
use for PVC in Europe. This percentage has been quite stable for the last ten
years only the distribution between the different phthalates has changed. The
consumption of DBP and BBP has decreased markedly the last 15 years and
the manufactured volume of each of the substances is today approximately
1% of the total manufactured phthalates.
DINP and DIDP have become dominating alternatives to DEHP due to their
closeness in performance to DEHP and only moderately higher costs. DINP
or DIDP can replace DEHP for practically all applications and the price is
approximately 10% higher than the price of the DEHP. DINP and DIDP
have not been further assessed in this study because they are already well described
and finished EU risk assessments are available for these substances.
Information on alternatives to DEHP, DBP and BBP, actually applied today,
has been collected from the following data sources:
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