Estimating emissions from adhesives and sealants uses and manufacturing for environmental risk assessments
Authors: Tolls Johannes , Gómez Divina , Guhl Walter , Funk Torsten , Seger Erich , Wind Thorsten 
Published: May 2015

Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) requires that environmental exposure assessments be performed for all uses of dangerous substances that are marketed in the European Union in quantities above 10 tons per year. The quantification of emissions to the environment is a key step in this process. This publication describes the derivation of release factors and gives guidance for estimating use rates for quantifying the emissions from the manufacturing and application of adhesives and sealants. Release factors available for coatings and paints are read across to adhesives or sealants based on similarities between these 2 product groups with regard to chemical composition and to processing during manufacturing and application. The granular emission scenarios in these documents are mapped to the broad emission scenarios for adhesives or sealants. According to the mapping, the worst-case release factors for coatings or paints are identified and assigned to the adhesives or sealants scenarios. The resulting 10 specific environmental release categories (SPERCs) for adhesives and sealants are defined by differentiating between solvent and nonsolvent ingredients and between water-borne and solvent-borne or solvent-free products. These cover the vast majority of the production processes and uses and are more realistic than the 5 relevant emission estimation defaults provided in the REACH guidance. They are accompanied with adhesive or sealant consumption rates in the EU and with guidance for estimating conservative substance use rates at a generic level. The approach of combining conservative SPERC release factors with conservative estimates of substance rates is likely to yield emission estimates that tend to overpredict actual releases. Because this qualifies the approach for use in lower-tier environmental exposure assessment, the Association of the European Adhesive & Sealant Industry (FEICA) SPERCs are available in several exposure assessment tools that are used under REACH. Given the limited regional variation in the manufacturing and use processes of adhesives and sealants, the SPERCs may be applicable for emission estimation not only in the EU but also in other regions. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:185–194. © 2015 SETAC

Key Points

Broad and generic emission scenarios are defined for adhesive/coatings for lower-tier exposure assessments under REACH. The current work is the first to exemplify reading across release factors for estimating chemicals emissions, thereby making best use of validated information available from OECD Emission Scenario documents (ESDs). Use rates of adhesives/sealants ingredient types are provided and guidance is given on how this can be used in SPERCs for arriving at conservative yet realistic emission estimates that are adequate for lower tier risk assessments. Given the limited regional variation in the manufacturing and use processes of adhesives/sealants, the SPERCs may be applicable not only for registering substance in the EU under REACH, but also in other regions.