Welcome to the LOA (Lower Olefins and Aromatics) REACH Consortium website

This website is intended to provide some general information on the Consortium, its objectives and scope, the substances which were registered in 2010, costs of letters of access for those substances and instructions on how to join any of the JSGs currently managed by the LOA REACH Consortium.

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Categories

As part of the process of developing the registration dossiers for a number of streams and UVCB substances, LOA assigned them to categories based on the chemical and technological descriptors.

During the assessment phase there was a check of the compositional coherency of the streams within the category, which formed the basis of the LOA Category Justification Documents. To collate new and revised data, an analytical data call in to all registrants was undertaken in 2015. It has been followed by detailed analysis of the data that was submitted. These data have been used to define a Category Identity Profile (CIP) and revised CJDs. The CIPs are available below and the CJDs can be found on the JSG Management pages on Active Steward.

For a complete listing of the substances within the categories managed by LOA see the CLP page, here which also details which LOA category they are assigned.

LOA Category A - Aliphatics & Cyclic C5 and higher

Definition

The aliphatic and cyclic C5 and higher category covers hydrocarbon streams with a carbon number distribution that is predominantly C5-C8. All the streams in this category are complex UVCBs containing >20% paraffins and/or >20% naphthenics, olefins at ≤3% and between 0.1% and ≤25% benzene. Since all streams in this category contain ≥0.1% benzene, the hazard classification of the aliphatic and cyclic C5 and higher category is largely determined by the presence of benzene (Category 1A Carcinogen H350 Category 1B Mutagen H340).

The aliphatic and cyclic C5 and higher category includes hydrocarbon streams typically from a naphtha/pyrolysis gasoline treatment and aromatic extraction unit involving pre-distillation, hydrogenation and extractive distillation processes. They are produced after aromatic extraction or (fractionated) distillation of hydrotreated naphtha.

LOA Category B - Butylene Oligomers

Definition

The substances within this category consist predominantly of C8, C12, C16 and/or C20 hydrocarbons, which have been manufactured as part of an oligomerisation process. A combination of 1-butene, 2- butene and 2-methylpropene monomers are used as the starting materials. The category streams are composed of butylene sub-units with less than 0.1% butadiene.

The Butylene Oligomers category contains hydrocarbon streams obtained by the oligomerisation of butylenes followed by hydrotreating processes. The substances within this category consist predominantly of C8, C12, C16 and/or C20 hydrocarbons. The streams’ constituents boil between 30 and 350 °C and the streams contain less than 0.1% butadiene.

LOA Category C - C4, low 1,3-butadiene (<0.1%)

Definition

The C4, low 1,3-butadiene category covers hydrocarbon streams with a carbon number distribution that is predominantly C4 and contain less than 0.1% 1,3-butadiene.

Category members are typically produced from the steam-cracking of naphtha and following the extraction of 1,3-butadiene from a C4-rich stream.

LOA Category D - C4, high 1,3-butadiene (>=0.1%)

Definition

The ‘C4, High 1,3-Butadiene (≥0.1%)’ category covers hydrocarbon streams which are predominantly C4 olefins and paraffins with a range from C3-C5 and contain ≥ 0.1% 1,3-butadiene.

The ‘C4, High 1,3-Butadiene (≥0.1%)’ category members are typically produced from the steamcracking of naphtha as a C4-rich stream.

LOA Category E - C5 non-cyclics

Definition

The ‘C5 non-cyclics’ category contains hydrocarbon streams with a carbon number distribution that is typically C4 – C8 (with low concentrations of C10 and C11 olefins). All the streams in this category are complex UVCBs containing >35% olefins (but <90% ), <35% paraffins, <10% aromatics, and <2% benzene, <2% buta-1,3-diene and <22% isoprene. The C5 non-cyclics category covers hydrocarbon streams that are predominantly derived from the steam cracking process as products of distillation processes. This C5+ cut (typical boiling range of approximately 0 to 75 °C) predominately consist of C5 hydrocarbons. The streams contain significant levels of olefins and diolefins.

LOA Category G - Fuel Oils

Definition

The Fuel Oils category covers hydrocarbon streams with a carbon number distribution that is predominantly >C6. All the streams in this category are complex UVCBs containing ≤1% paraffins, ≤1% isoparaffins, ≤1% naphthenics, olefins at ≤20%, aromatics at ≤100 and ≤19% benzene. The human health classification of the streams in this category will be predominantly driven by the presence of benzene, DCPD, naphthalene, styrene and toluene as these are the CMR constituents present in the streams.

The ‘fuel oils’ category covers hydrocarbon streams typically produced by the distillation of products from a steam cracking process, by the distillation of products from an ethylene manufacturing process, obtained as the residual fraction from the distillation of the products of a steam cracking process, or residual fractions from ethylene/benzene chemical processing, or produced by pyrolysis.

LOA Category H - High Benzene Naphthas

Definition

The high benzene naphthas category contains hydrocarbons (aliphatic, aromatic and olefinic) with carbon numbers predominantly in the C5-C10 range and boiling from approximately 30°C to 300°C. Members of this category contain >0.1% benzene and contain varying amounts of toluene, xylenes and n-hexane. Some category members contain naphthalenes, isoprene and 1,3-butadiene and this has been quantified where possible. All the streams in this category are complex UVCBs containing ≤ 50% paraffins, ≤ 60% isoparaffins, ≤ 90% olefins, ≤ 90% naphthenics, ≤100% aromatics, and above 0.1% benzene. Since all streams in this category contain ≥0.1% benzene, the human hazard classification of the high benzene naphthas category is largely determined by the presence of benzene (Category 1A Carcinogen H350 Category 1B Mutagen H340).

Category members are usually produced by the distillation of products from a steam cracking process or by pyrolysis. The category contains predominantly hydrocarbons greater than C6 and has a boiling point range of approximately 30°C to 300°C.

LOA Category J - Low Benzene Naphthas

Definition

The low benzene naphthas category contains hydrocarbons (aliphatic, aromatic and olefinic) with carbon numbers predominantly in the C7-C13 range and boiling from approximately 80°C to 300°C. Members of this category contain <0.1%benzene and contain varying amounts of toluene, xylenes and ethylbenzene.

Category members are typically produced by the distillation of products from a steam cracking process or by pyrolysis. Members of this category contain <0.1% benzene and contain variable concentrations of toluene, xylenes and ethylbenzene.

LOA Category K

Definition

This category covers hydrocarbon streams containing petroleum gases (alkanes/alkenes) predominantly in the C1-C5 range (with some carbon numbers present at lower levels up to C10) and include some LPGs. The majority of the members of this category contain <0.1% 1,3-butadiene. Members of this category are products of hydrocarbon refining operations, sometimes in association with steam-crackers or are produced in association with natural gas processing such as catalytic cracking and catalytic reforming or distillation of crude oil. Companies importing streams will need to confirm that such streams meet the chemical description and are in domain.

Based on the analytical evaluation we determined that there the category is composed of two types of registrations as follows:

  1. Members with UVCBs containing benzene and / or 1,3-butadiene - 2021-09-01 Category K CIP (high benzene and 1,3-butadiene) v1.5.pdf
  2. Members with UVCBs that do not contain any CMR constituents - 2021-09-01 Category K CIP (no benzene and 1,3-butadiene) v1.5.pdf

Please choose the appropriate CIP.

LOA Category L - Resin Oils & Cyclic Dienes

Definition

The resin oils and cyclic dienes are a category of UVCB substances generally made by similar manufacturing processes involving steam cracking. Consequently, they have many of the same constituents within the stream compositions. The proportion of these components will depend on the company specific manufacturing process adjustments. The major groups of substances within the resin oils and cyclic dienes are unsaturated non-hydrotreated products (the Resin Oil products) dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) and methylcyclopentadiene-cyclopentadiene) as well as indane and indene. These streams may also have variable concentrations of aromatics, including benzene (3.0%), styrene, toluene, and xylenes. All the streams in this category are complex UVCBs containing ≤3% paraffins and/or ≤15% naphthenics, ≤5% isoparaffins, olefins at ≤80%, and aromatics at <100%. The streams in this category contain ≤3% benzene, and variable concentrations of DCPD, naphthalene, toluene and styrene.

LOA Category N - Butene Isomers

Definition

This category consists primarily of 1-butene, 2-butene, 2-methylpropene and butene mixed isomers.

LOA Category P - Petroleum Gases

Definition

This category covers mono-constituent C1-C4 alkanes. Members of this category include LPGs and are products of hydrocarbon refining operations, in association with stream-cracking or are produced in association with natural gas processing such as catalytic cracking and catalytic reforming as well as processing in chemical plants. Companies importing streams will need to confirm that such streams meet the chemical description and are in domain.

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