Eco-AFFF

In our research group, we have developed new, completely fluorine-free surfactants based on natural materials, which meet the very demanding physicochemical conditions for the formation of the desired water film on fuels and non-polar fluids.
While commercially available fluorine-free surfactants are not able to build up a water film on fuel (Figure 1), the water film spreads rapidly and on the fuel surface with our new fluorine-free surfactants (Figure 2).
In both cases, the surfactant solution was dyed blue for better visibility and was not foamed.

Figure 1: Wetting test with commercial surfactant. The surfactant solution is dyed blue for better visibility. No water film formation takes place on the model fuel, the surfactant solution remains in drop form and passes through the fuel layer.

Figure 2: The equivalent wetting test as in Figure 1, but with one of our new surfactants. The surfactant solution is dyed blue for better visibility. As is clearly visible, a covering water film on the surface of the model fuel forms spontaneously.

Fire extinguishing tests with various burning fuels confirm the capability of our new high-performance surfactants to act as an AFFF (Figures 3-5).

Figure 3: Pressure free foam application on burning jet petrol.

Figure 4: The foam blanket forms rapidly on the surface of the burning liquid.

Figure 5: "Fire out" after 124 s.