F2 Chemicals Ltd was established in 1992 as BNFL Fluorochemicals Ltd, a diversification business belonging to British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL). The purpose of the company was to develop a chemical business based on BNFL’s fluorine generation expertise.
The Company acquired the FLUTEC® perfluorocarbon fluids business from Rhône-Poulenc in 1993 and constructed a new plant in Preston, which came on-stream in 1995.
Due to change of corporate strategy, BNFL sold the company to a consortium of Asahi Glass Company Ltd, Mitsubishi Corporation and Miteni SpA in March 2000.
In September 2008 the company was acquired by Showa Denko KK.
Product Overview
F2 Chemicals Ltd primarily manufactures Flutec® perfluorocarbon fluids, these are very specialised chemicals that are used in a wide range of industries. They contain only fluorine and carbon atoms and their properties include thermally stable (up to 400°C), colourless and odourless, chemically inert and high gas solubility. They are non-toxic and non-flammable.
Uses and applications:
Electronics industry – direct contact cooling, heat transfer, vapour phase soldering, thermal shock testing and liquid burn-in testing. Octafluoropropane is used in silicon wafer chamber cleaning and etching. Water and oil-resistant surface coating used for the water-proofing of external circuit boards.
Perfluorocarbon Tracers (PFTs) – used as an alternative to radioactive tracers for obvious safety benefits.
Oil and Gas supply industries – tagging and tracing compounds used for reservoir mapping, environmental pollution assessment and mapping, security monitoring.
Electricity supply industries – for finding breaks in underground oil-filled cables by introducing our tracers into the oil; the selected tracer then leaks from the damaged area and can be detected at very low concentrations by highly specialised equipment; the road can then be dug up and the break repaired quickly with minimal disruption.
Cosmetics – Flutec® PC6 and Flutec® PC11. Both fluids are lipophobic and hydrophobic, forming a third phase facilitating emulsion formulation. They have a variety of properties that makes them a superb additive to cosmetic formulations.
Other interesting applications include their use in particle physics experiments, heat engines and heat dissipation, speciality solvents for fluorinated materials, chemical reaction suppression and defined density fluids.
F2 supplies perfluorocarbons to many research and development facilities across the world and is keen to become involved in new applications. Such development enquiries are treated with strict confidentiality, along with a close client working relationship that meet our customers exact needs.
F2 Chemicals Ltd is accredited to ISO 9001:2008. Please see our ISO accreditation certificate here
View our Health and Safety Policy Statement
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