It is a manmade chemical used in electronic equipment industry
Scientists from University of
Toronto claim to have discovered a greenhouse gas that is 7,100 times
more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2).
“Perfluorotributylamine or PFTBA stays in the atmosphere for a very
long time and has a very high radiative efficiency making it a
potentially high global warming gas,” says Angela Hong, one of the
lead-supervising scientists at the university. “Calculated over a
100-year timeframe, a single molecule of PFTBA has the equivalent
climate impact as 7,100 molecules of CO2,” says Hong.
Radiative efficiency describes how effective a molecule of a gas is
at preventing long-wave radiation from escaping back into space. The
higher the radiative efficiency, the greater that molecule can influence
climate. This value is then multiplied by its atmospheric concentration
in order to determine the total climate impact of a substance.
Although there is no historical documentation of PFTBA, its
approximate concentration in the atmosphere has been found to be around
0.18 parts per trillion in the Toronto region, where the study was
conducted. CO2, the most prominent greenhouse gas, in comparison has
concentrations of around 400 parts per million globally. However, what
makes PFTBA potentially harmful is the high radiative efficiency of the
compound in the atmosphere.
Unlike CO2, which can be absorbed by ocean and land sinks, PFTBA
cannot be destroyed by any natural processes and can remain in the
atmosphere for around 500 years. Although CO2 is still the major
contributor to global warming, molecule to molecule PFTBA poses a much
larger threat. Currently, there are no policies, global or otherwise, in
place to regulate the amount of PFTBA in the atmosphere.
PFTBA is a manmade chemical used for various applications in
electronic equipment, electronic testing and as a heat transfer agent
since the mid 20th century.
