Atmospheric SF6:: Trends, sources, and prospects

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is the most potent greenhouse gas known. Its atmospheric concentration has increased by 2 orders of magnitude since industrial production started in 1953. Once released into the atmosphere, SF6 will only be removed exceedingly slowly due to its atmospheric lifetime of about 3200 yr. These features have brought SF6 into the climatic impact discussion aimed at reduction of emissions. The dominant uses of SF6 are in gas insulated switchgear (GIS) and in blanketing or degassing molten aluminum and magnesium. From 1978 onward, the rapidly growing global SF6 burden is well-documented by atmospheric observations. Concerning the SF6 applications responsible for that, a vast range of speculations is circulating. The underlying information gap-which preempts the design of any reduction program-will be bridged for the first time. Recently reported global sales of SF6 for end-use applications form the basis of this investigation but need Various revisions. The good agreement between emissions modeled out of revised sales data and atmospheric observations since the 1970s allows the extrapolation of the atmospheric SF6 record further back to the 1950s. Our analysis also shows that the natural background of SF6 is lower than 0.04 ppt. A geographical analysis of SF6 uses suggests that the North American market needs to be better specified. With certain technological efforts, a global reduction of SF6 releases of up to 90% seems feasible, equivalent to 5500 t for the year 1995, and climatically equivalent to 132 million ton of CO2.