Official – fluoro-free foams can stand up to Lastfire
Published: 01 January, 2008
The oil, gas, chemical, power and other high risk industries have been waiting for proof that such a foam is up to the challenge for both hydrocarbon and polar solvent fuels.
Manufactured by Bio-Ex, Ecopol has matched the performance of foams such as AFFF, FFP and the highest performing fluoroprotein foam in this catergoy.
The Lastfire test evaluation is based on a points system, with the highest proportion of points being structured around fire extinction, and points awarded for initial fire control, flash over and burn back. Foam achieving between 80 and 100 points is classified as “good” foam (the highest assessment band). Ecopol has joined a number of elite foams that have achieved the top mark of 100 points.
Gary McDowall of ABC Macintosh, UK distributor for Bio-Ex, spoke to IFJ about the significance of the latest results, and why the company has waited so long to make its FfreeF move.
“When Lastfire first started testing in 2002 both Thierry (MD of Bio-Ex) and I did not believe the industry in general had the right mindset for the fluorofree options with foams. It was still a relatively new innovation and all foam manufacturers were rushing to prove how good their film forming foams – containing fluorosurfactants – would perform in the Lastfire test.”
At the time, the accepted view of FFF manufacturers was that the new types of foams would not perform well on hydrocarbon fuels such as heptane, remembers Gary. “We always felt differently and were confident that Ecopol would do well on hydrocarbon fire tests.”
Incidentally, IFJ was a witness to this in Bio-Ex tests in Vigo, northwest Spain (see June 2007 issue), where 16 litres of foam extinguished a 111 square metre fire. (A further trip is planned for next year and interested parties should get in touch with Gary McDowall.)
Buncefield issues with contaminated groundwater, admits Gary, have had a great influence on the industry’s change of mind. “Now at last we had the ear of the industry decision makers. Government and political parties generally were at the same time also lifting the profile of the environment to a much higher level, so the time was right to lift Ecopol’s profile.”
For the Lastfire testing, Gary and Thierry expected a reasonable outcome – a classification of ‘acceptable’ (70 per cent) on the hydrocarbon test. As it turned out, Ecopol scored 100 points on the aspirated test (“good”), on the systems test it achieved 77.5 points (“acceptable”); as good as most film-forming foams.
“Our detractors now claim Ecopol is not as good on polar solvents. Not so. Ecopol is extremely efficient on polar solvent fuel and you can understand the efforts we put into trying to show the industry that these products do work, and why it has become something of a crusade for both Dr Thierry Bluteau and I. The big test is still to come and that will be a new protocol planned for the near future with Lastfire. The oil industry is becoming less concerned about hydrocarbon fuels because Ethanol fuels will be the main product for vehicles in the very near future. These types of fuel known as E85 and E90 are a blend of Ethanol and petrol (85 per cent or 90 per cent Ethanol) and are essentially polar solvents blended with a small amount of hydrocarbon.
“Foams in the future will need to be alcohol resistant and of course Ecopol is a fluorosurfactant free alcohol resistant foam. It is very early days yet but there is talk that the new protocol with Lastfire is to include a similar test for E85 or E90. In the UK we already used E85 in limited volume, but it is growing. In Scandinavia it is the main fuel choice. Our next box to tick will be the Ethanol box and hopefully we will be one of the first manufacturers to test and prove that Ecopol is a viable option for the industry.”
