Vinyl Chloride

Vinyl chloride is also known as monochloroethylene and chloroethene. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a polymer of vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride and PVC are used as raw materials in the plastics, rubber, paper, glass, and automotive industries. They are also used in the manufacture of electrical wire insulation and cables, piping, industrial and household equipment, medical supplies, food packaging materials, and building and construction products. Vinyl chloride copolymers and PVC are distributed and processed in a variety of forms, including dry resins, plastisol (dispersions in plasticizers), organosol (dispersions in plasticizers and volatile solvent), and latex (a colloidal dispersion in water used to coat paper, fabric, or leather) (USEPA 1985a). Its structure and properties are presented in Table 1.