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DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise announced new fluorotelomer products for repellents and surfactants that deliver maximum performance with a minimal environmental footprint. New DuPont Capstone products are based on short-chain chemistry and provide a step-change reduction in trace impurities below the limit of detection,1 offering customers the same or better performance than their predecessors without a compromise in fluorine efficiency. Capstone products also meet the goals of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program and will be registered on global inventories in all countries where they are sold.

The Capstone products are commercially available for home furnishings, fire-fighting foam, fluorosurfactants and leather end uses. Additional products will be introduced over the next 18 months for paper packaging, textiles and other end-use markets. These products reflect the DuPont commitment to provide high-performance sustainable alternatives the industry demands. As the largest global manufacturer and supplier of fluorotelomer products, DuPont holds a strong global supply position for Capstone products.

“Our customers that have converted to Capstone products tell us that we have delivered on the performance demands,” said Thomas H. Samples, Surface Protection Solutions global business manager, DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise. “The introduction of Capstone products furthers the DuPont mission of sustainable growth – creating shareholder and societal value while reducing the environmental footprint along the value chains in which our customers operate.”

Capstone products represent a step-change improvement in impurities, utilizing the previously announced DuPont technology for LX Platform products. Introduced in February 2007, LX Platform products became the scientific result of the successful commercialization of a new, patented manufacturing process to remove greater than 97% of trace levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its homologues and direct precursors from DuPont fluorotelomer products.

Fluorotelomer chemistry is not made with PFOA, nor is PFOA added during the manufacture of DuPont fluorotelomer-based products. Capstone products are based on short-chain molecules that cannot breakdown to PFOA in the environment. This change, when combined with the technology for LX Platform products yields fluorotelomer products with negligible PFOA and PFOA precursor content.

More information about Capstone products can be obtained at www.capstone.dupont.com/, or Asia Pacific +886.2.2514.4412, Europe +33.1.41.97.45.59, North America 866/828.7009, Latin America +55.11.416.68.601.