Sometimes your opponent is so strong, you just need to get out of the ring and admit defeat. Like Angela Carini at the Paris Olympics, the Italian boxer who quit after just two punches from the Algerian Imane Khelif, who went on to win gold.
The PFAS fight is over. It is time for the cookware industry to admit defeat (hopefully without Carini’s bad-loser behaviour).
For decades the big names in the industry have punched and parried, coating their pans with PTFE – a polymeric PFAS substance around which there are serious health concerns. As fears over PTFE grew, the fight became harder and harder. Now here comes the knockout blow.
Ooof!! Factories making cookware with PTFE can switch to an equivalent quality, ceramic non-stick finish without even changing their equipment. Sol-gel is a technique in materials science for producing ceramic nonstick alternatives to PTFE nonstick; sol-gels are available from most non-stick coating suppliers. “There is nothing difficult about the application and you won’t need to invest in expensive new equipment,” says Dr Chris Phillips, a senior engineer at the Cookware Company.*
What is sol-gel?
“Ceramic” does not mean made of porcelain. Sol-gel non-sticks are a family of ceramic coatings that are applied to metal pans. They comprise mostly of silica and are created by applying a gel-like solution to the product and drying it in an oven. The result is a hard, glossy surface with non-stick properties. Sol-gels can be produced in different colours, they withstand high heat, are easy to use and clean – and they allow cooking with little or no fat. (Source: IKEA)
Ouch!! Surveys show that most consumers base their future cookware purchasing decisions on how long the non-stick properties of a coating will last. The PTFE industry repeatedly asserts that their coatings have a significantly longer lifespan than any alternatives. But have they looked at the evidence?
The Stiwa test, part of assessing cookware for the prestigious LGA quality mark, demonstrates that the non-stick lifetime of PTFE and ceramic coatings are very similar. The test entails filling a frying pan with steel balls and corundum and then shaking it mechanically to cause wear and simulate how non-stick properties change with long-term use.
Ceramic and PTFE coatings score satisfactory-to-good on the Stiwa test, which means both PTFE and ceramic are durable and robust non-stick technologies. Both PTFE and sol-gel also have a similar resistance to staining, corrosion and dishwasher uses.
“Anybody who can apply PTFE has the right skills and equipment to apply ceramic”
Ker-pow!! There are some small differences between applying PTFE and sol-gel to metal cookware, but essentially the equipment is identical: you pre-treat the metal surface, spray on the coating, then cure it in an oven. “Anybody who can apply PTFE has the right skills and equipment to apply ceramic,” Chris says. “You don’t need any new investment, and cost is definitely not a barrier.”
Despite the high substitution potential of ceramic coatings and similar alternatives, Chemsec observes that the giants of the cookware industry continue to put immense pressure on politicians and policy makers not to ban PTFE.
This PFAS non-stick coating is down on its knees and the crowd is screaming for the referee to stop the fight. Must we really continue this contest when the winner is so obvious?
This article is based on material presented at a recent ChemSec webinar. For more details, click here.
* Dr Phillips says he has no commercial interest in sol-gel coatings. The Cookware Company markets its own non-stick coating based on a sol-gel process.
