Hi,
I have seen studies estimating the potential comparative toxic (or toxicity) unit (CTU) of PVC for humans, which could be similar to Human tox CF? If so, I don't find data for PVC. Also, I struggle to understand 1) the source for CTU data, 2) methodology for generating CTU, and 3) what chemicals were included and how they were measured.
Can someone help please?
Thanks.
PVC is a polymer that contains various chemicals (monomer, additives, etc.). Hence, PCV as such cannot be reliably assessed with USEtox or similar models that evaluate individual chemicals. We do currently not recommend to apply USEtox to complex materials.
Thanks for your reply.
Which model if not USEtox, would you suggest for life cycle assessment of complex materials? Appreciate your time for sharing.
To our knowledge, there is currently no model that can evaluate toxicity/ecotoxicty of emissions of complex materials as such for use in life cycle impact assessment. However, if the chemical material composition is known, chemical constituents could be assessed individually via USEtox (versions 1 and for chemical emissions and version 3 for chemical emissions and exposure to chemical constituents in a material) and summed up as proxy for material-level impacts. An example of this approach can be found e.g. here for a complex building material.