Lithium-ion high-voltage battery components for electric or hybrid vehicles travel along production line.
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Use of trichloroethylene for making separators in lithium-ion batteries will be phased out within 5 years under a new US regulation.
Most uses of the solvents trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) will be banned within 1–3 years under final rules released Dec. 9 by the US Environmental Protection Agency. But in response to pushback from some industries, the agency carved out longer phase-out times for certain applications.
The EPA’s crackdown on solvents under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is part of the agency’s push to finalize proposed regulations before the administration of Donald J. Trump takes over Jan. 20.
TCE and PCE are 2 of the first 10 chemicals the EPA evaluated under the revisions to TSCA made in 2016. The agency proposed restrictions on both of them in 2023. Asbestos and methylene chloride are the only others for which final rules have been released.
TCE was once widely used as a solvent in cleaning products, degreasers, brake cleaners, lubricants, adhesives, coatings, and many other consumer and industrial products. The EPA considers the chemical “extremely toxic” and says it causes liver and kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and a host of other health effects, even at low concentrations.
Under the EPA’s final rule, most uses of TCE will be phased out within 1 year. The agency claims that safer alternatives are available for those applications.
“It’s simply unacceptable to continue to allow cancer-causing chemicals to be used for things like glue, dry cleaning or stain removers when safer alternatives exist,” Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, says in a statement. “These rules are grounded in the best-available science that demonstrates the harmful impacts of PCE and TCE.”
The EPA will allow a longer phase-out period for a few uses of TCE, but it will require strict worker protections, including an inhalation exposure limit. Those applications include cleaning aircraft and medical devices, and manufacturing battery separators and refrigerants. The agency will also allow essential laboratory use of TCE for 50 years as long as worker protection requirements are met.
The final rule for PCE will phase out all consumer uses and many industrial uses within 3 years. Use of PCE in dry cleaning, where it is often referred to as perc, will be phased out over 10 years.
PCE causes liver, kidney, brain, and testicular cancer, as well as adverse effects on the immune and reproductive systems and the brain, liver, and kidney, according to the EPA.
TCE and PCE are interchangeable in many processes. The EPA’s rule allows PCE to be used as an alternative to TCE for some applications for which TCE is prohibited. For example, in industrial settings, PCE can continue to be used for energized electrical cleaning, manufacturing refrigerants, and vapor degreasing.
Environmental groups welcome the new rules, pointing out that TCE is notorious for contaminating drinking water and causing cancer.
“US communities large and small have tap water with potentially harmful levels of TCE, and they may not be aware of this risk,” Tasha Stoiber, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, says in a statement. “People can be exposed to this toxic solvent at home not just by drinking TCE-contaminated water but also by inhaling it when bathing and washing dishes.”
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