How Manufacturing Fluorine Chemicals Can Make Your Business Profitable
Rasa Bihari Mishra
Business Consultant : Helping Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Food & Agro Processing, and Formulations Industries become Profitable & Sustainable - Concept to Commissioning Support and Technical Training
The above extremely useful products are different. Isn't it?
What if I say all of them belong to the same category?
Then what connects them with each other?
When you get into their molecular details, you'll find the presence of fluorine atom in the molecule. That's why we call them fluorine chemicals.
Let's get into the molecular details of the above products one by one.
So, you see how important the fluorine chemicals are commercially.
Making Fluorine Chemicals
But before getting into the details of the fluorine chemicals manufacturing, we must check whether it makes business sense or not. Right?
For that let me ask you an important question.
What makes a manufacturing business successful?
Irrespective of the type of businesses, It’s the value addition potential which makes the difference between success and failure. Because no business can succeed unless it adds significant value. Isn’t it?
When it comes to the manufacturing fluorine chemicals, it’s one of the most profitable chemical segments because of diverse applications.
When you talk about fluorine chemicals, the business environment is changing very fast. So, the basis on which you’ll select and evaluate the product suitability must change. And you don’t have any other choice other than changing your business strategy. In fact, you need to continually evaluate the products.
The fluorine chemical products which are made today may not be commercially important tomorrow. Because new fluorine chemicals are getting developed to satisfy the human wants in a better way.
But do you know that’s what offers you incredible opportunities?
Because if you can identify the techno-commercial incongruences, you can select great profit-making fluorine chemical product and add massive value to your manufacturing business. Of course, you must be knowledgeable about the techno-commercial aspects of fluorine chemical products.
In fact, you need to make massive efforts to collect techno-commercial information to put them in structured format and evaluate them following an innovative and integrated approach. Because that’s essential to optimize the diverse business aspects and extract meaningful conclusion.
But the outcome will surprise you. It’ll be easy for you to select extremely profitable fluorine chemical products for manufacturing.
Before getting into the product details, let’s discuss how they’re manufactured.
Manufacturing Process
Fluorine chemical products are manufactured by making molecular changes in the raw materials. You need to incorporate fluorine element in the raw material molecules in order to make them fluorine chemicals.
But how to incorporate fluorine in the molecules?
The molecular conversion process for making fluorine chemical products is known as Fluorination.
Fluorination is achieved by using fluorinating agents. Major fluorinating agents are Hydrogen fluoride, Fluorine, and other special fluorinating reagents. When it comes to the molecular conversion, many processes are used. However the major share goes to Fluorination by Hydrogen Fluoride.
But it’s important to optimize the techno-economic aspects with respect to the fluorinating agents and fluorination processes in order to make the manufacturing profitable and sustainable.
Now, it’s time to talk about the fluorine chemical products.
We've seen why it makes business sense to get into fluorine chemical manufacturing business. But for that you need to know about the techno-commercial aspects of the commercially important fluorine chemicals. Isn't it?
The fluorine chemical products can be categorized into two types:
Let’s start with inorganic fluorine chemicals.?
Inorganic Fluorine Chemicals
Various types of inorganic fluorine chemicals are used. But some of the commercially important products are:
Metal Fluorides
Metal fluoride salts like Sodium Fluorides are added to drinking water and oral hygiene products for maintaining dental health. This fluoride salt work against dental cavities by strengthening the tooth enamel.?
Some fluoride salts like Lithium Fluoride are used as flux in ceramics production.
Whereas some fluoride salts like Magnesium Fluoride are used in Optics. In
When you study the usefulness of metal fluorides, you'll find different fluoride salts have varied applications in chemicals, metallurgical and electronics industry.
Sulfur Hexafluoride
Sulfur hexafluoride has application in high voltage electrical equipment like circuit breakers and switchgear as dielectric medium. It also finds usage in electronics industry.
Lithium hexafluorophosphate
Lithium hexafluorophosphate is commercially very important.? Its major use is in secondary batteries.
Because of its inert nature and high solubility in polar aprotic solvents, it serves as a very effective electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries.
And because of the high demand of electrical vehicles, the demand for lithium-ion batteries is increasing day by day. That's why Lithium Hexafluorophosphate has become commercially very important.
We've discussed about the Inorganic Fluorine Chemicals. Now it's time to get into the Organic Fluorine Chemicals.
Organic Fluorine Chemicals
When it comes to organic fluorine chemicals, the applications are diverse. In fact, these chemicals are commercially very important. Out of hundreds of organic fluorine chemical products, the major share goes to the Refrigerants and Fluoropolymers.
The product categories are:
Let's get into the organic fluorine chemical product categories one by one.
Let's start with Refrigerants.
Refrigerants
When you get into the details of the cooling systems, you’ll find the refrigerants to be the most important component. They play a major role in achieving and maintaining low temperatures in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other cooling appliances.
And most of the refrigerants are fluorine containing organic chemicals. They’re used because of their ability to undergo phase change based on the cooling cycle. They change from a low-pressure gas to a high-pressure liquid and back to achieve cooling. In fact, this property of the refrigerants help in efficient heat exchange without which no cooling will take place.
Their applications are in air conditioning - including automotive air conditioning – and refrigeration systems like refrigerators, freezers, and other cooling devices. The applications include both household and industrial usage.?
If you get into the molecular details of the refrigerants, you’ll find most of them to be fluorine containing aliphatic organic chemicals.?
Commercially important refrigerants are hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and hydrofluoroolefins.
Earlier days most of the refrigerants used to be hydrochlorofluorocarbons having ozone depleting issues.
In order to minimize environmental impact with respect to ozone depletion, hydrofluorocarbons are developed. But they’ve got global warming potential.
That’s why improved alternative is to use hydrofluoroolefins. But they’re relatively expensive. However, research and developmental work is going on to address these issues.
Let's now talk about one of the most important fluorine chemical category - Fluoropolymers.
Fluoropolymers
Some of the commercially important synthetic polymers contain fluorine atoms in their molecular structure. We call them Fluoropolymers.
They’re used because of their exceptional resistance to heat, corrosion, and weather effect. That’s why they’re very important in various industrial applications.
When you talk about the fluoropolymers, many types of homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers are used.
As far as the commercially important fluoropolymers are concerned, the most used fluoropolymer is Polytetrafluoroethylene.
It has got many applications.
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Coatings on Non-Stick Cookware
Fluoropolymers especially Polytetrafluoroethylene is widely used as non-stick coating for cookware and bakeware utensils because of its non-stick property which avoids food materials sticking to the utensils. That’s how it helps you to cook low oil healthy meals.
Gaskets and Seals
Fluoropolymers are used to make gaskets and seals in industrial applications especially where the corrosion resistance and high temperatures operations are essential.
Lubricants and Bearings
Fluoropolymers are very effective as solid lubricants and for the manufacture of bearings due to their low friction properties and resistance to wear.
Process Equipment in Chemical industry
Because of the corrosion resistance, fluoropolymers are used in the construction of equipment, pipes, and accessories in chemical industry.
Now it's time to talk about the fluorine chemicals used in pharmaceutical industry.
Fluorine containing Pharmaceutical Products
In pharmaceutical industry fluorine containing active pharmaceutical ingredients have become very important. Why?
Because fluorine atom imparts unique pharmaceutical properties to the molecules. In fact, it results in improved pharmacokinetics, metabolic stability, and receptor binding which make the medicines more effective.
They cover wide spectrum of medicines:
Many other active pharmaceutical ingredients are fluorine compounds.
Pharmaceutical Intermediates as Fluorine Chemicals
If you get into the details of manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients, you’ll find most of them are made by multi step chemical synthesis. And you can’t make these advanced molecules without using many other intermediate molecules.
That’s why the pharmaceutical intermediates – both basic intermediates and advanced intermediates – are essential to make the active pharmaceutical ingredients economically.
But then what about the pharmaceutical intermediates required for making fluorine containing active pharmaceutical ingredients?
Naturally when the active pharmaceutical ingredients contain fluorine, some of the pharmaceutical intermediates must have fluorine in their molecules. Isn’t it? So, in addition to active pharmaceutical ingredients, you’ll have to manufacture other fluorine chemicals like pharmaceutical intermediates.
Let's talk about the fluorine chemicals used in agrochemical industry.
Fluorine containing Agrochemical Products
In agrochemical industry fluorine containing agrochemicals have become very important. Why?
Because these compounds are very effective in addressing challenges in farming like pests, diseases, and weeds. In fact, they cover wide spectrum and handle many agricultural issues effectively contributing to pest control and crop protection. And it results in increased agricultural productivity.
Fluorine Containing Insecticides
They’re very effective against a broad spectrum of insect pests for the protection of the horticultural crops. The product examples are Fipronil, Flonicamid and others.
Fluorine Containing Fungicide
They’re very effective against a broad spectrum of fungal diseases in crops like soybean, banana, rice and coffee. The product examples are Epoxiconazole and others.
Fluorine Containing Weedicides
They’re very effective in weed control of various crops. The selective weedicides do weed control without affecting the cultivated crops. The product examples are Trifluralin and others.
Fluorine Containing Plant Growth Regulators
Plant Growth Regulators optimize crop growth and yield by managing plant height, flowering, and root development. It results in improved crop yield. The product examples are Flumetralin, Flurprimidol and others.
Agrochemical Intermediates as Fluorine Chemicals
If you get into the details of manufacturing agrochemicals, you’ll find most of them are made by multi step chemical synthesis. And you can’t make these advanced molecules without using many other intermediate molecules. That’s why the agrochemical intermediates become essential to make the agrochemicals economically.
But then what about the intermediates required for making fluorine containing agrochemicals?
Naturally when the agrochemicals contain fluorine, some of the agrochemical intermediates must have fluorine in their molecules. Isn’t it? So, in addition to agrochemicals, you’ll have to manufacture other fluorine chemicals like agrochemical intermediates.
Now it's time to talk about other organic fluorine chemicals.
Other Organic Fluorine Chemicals
There are many other organic fluorine compounds available in the market for various applications. Let's talk about some of them.
Organofluorine Surfactants
The fluorine containing surfactants are commercially very important.
As with most of the surfactants, these molecules have both hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating) functional groups. But they've got improved properties - low surface energies along with very low surface tension.
Though they've got industrial applications, their environmental and health impact is significant and under study.
Fluorine containing Solvents
Fluorine containing solvents have industrial applications because of their improved properties related to solubility.
Though they've got niche applications, they've adverse environmental impacts. Newer fluorine containing solvents are getting developed to overcome their environmental issues.
Fluorine containing Reagents
Fluorine containing reagents have important industrial applications because of their usefulness in organic synthesis.
They're necessary to make many fine chemicals and chemical intermediates because of their usefulness to diverse industries.
These reagents are also useful for chemical synthesis other than organofluorine chemistry. That's what makes them commercially important.
Fluorine containing Blowing Agents
Fluorine containing blowing agents have important industrial applications because of their usefulness in making sponge products. These additives are mixed with the polymeric materials to generate gas by thermal decomposition. This helps in producing foam structure of sponge material. Currently the fluorine containing blowing agents like hydrofluorocarbons are used.
Let's Conclude
Modern world can’t sustain without Chemical Products. And when it comes to Fluorine Chemicals, there’re hundreds of products in the market in order to fulfil diverse human wants because of their niche applications.
So, it makes business sense to get into the manufacturing of fluorine chemicals.
The fluorine chemicals can be divided into two broad categories:
When you talk about the Inorganic Fluorine Chemicals, there’re many products like:
Organic Fluorine Chemicals cover a wide range of products.
Selection of Fluorine Chemicals
So, there are ample opportunities to manufacture Fluorine Chemicals. But for that you need to study different types of fluorine chemicals and evaluate them in a targeted way against important techno-commercial basis.
But it’s just the beginning. When you look at them from a manufacturer’s eye, you can appreciate the possibilities and make efforts to know more about them.
The business environment is changing very fast. The raw materials which are available today, may not be available tomorrow. The existing products may become obsolete and new products may take their places.
Things are also moving fast in the technology front. Advanced technologies are getting developed to address the industrial issues and make the manufacturing process profitable and sustainable.
Do you know what’s important in this situation?
The most important part is to connect the dots. Because if you’re not able to optimize the diverse techno-commercial aspects, you won’t be able to utilize the incredible opportunities the dynamic business environment offers.
In fact, when you identify the techno-commercial incongruences, you can develop great profit-making manufacturing projects and add tremendous value to your business.
Let’s join hands in using innovations in manufacturing pharmaceutical intermediates and developing them further to make the Manufacturing Business Profitable and Sustainable.
What's your experience in Selecting Fluorine Chemicals for Your Business?