Fire-fighting compositions
US20250295946A1
Abstract
The present invention relates to non-AFFF firefighting compositions and methods of making and using same. Applicants disclose firefighting compositions that comprise a wetting agent and a thickening agent. Such thickening agent captures and changes the chemical properties of fuel vapors as they permeate around and through the bubbles of a firefighting composition. Such firefighting compositions are particularly useful in fighting Class B fires.
Description (excerpt)
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/568,224 filed Mar. 21, 2024, the contents of such provisional application hereby being incorporated by reference in its entry. RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States for all governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to fire-fighting compositions comprising a wetting agent and a thickener, as well as methods of making and using such compositions. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The capability to suppress fires such as class B, F, and K fires is of particular important to a number of industries including the fuel and aircraft industries. Class B fires include flammable liquids or flammable gases, petroleum greases, tars, oils, oil-based paints, solvents, lacquers, alcohols, rubbers, and plastics. For example, propane, natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, rubber, and plastic fires are types of Class B fires. Class F, known in the United States as Class K, refers to fires involving cooking oil or fat and are a subset of Class B fires. The most efficient method for extinguishing class B fires involves using firefighting foams called Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF). Unfortunately, AFFFs contain fluorinated surfactants classified as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These fluorocarbon surfactants have a number of undesirable properties. Thus, the US Congress's 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits DoD use of AFFFs after 1 Oct. 2024. Since that announcement researchers and the firefighting industry have been scrambling to find an effective alternative to AFFF. However, the commercially available alternatives still lack the distinctive performance of AFFFs. Applicants recognized that the problem with current non-fluorinated surfactant firefighting compositions was that such compositions allow the permeation of fuel vapors around and through the bubbles of such compositions. Thus, Applicants recognized that a substance that could capture and change the chemical properties of such fuel vapors was needed in order to have an effective firefighting composition. As a result, Applicants disclose firefighting compositions that comprise a wetting agent and a thickening agent. Such thickening agent captures and changes the chemical properties of fuel vapors as they permeate around and through the bubbles of a firefighting composition. Such firefighting compositions are particularly useful in fighting Class B fires. While not being bound by theory, Applicants believe that such thickening agents achieve the aforementioned objective by complexing with a fire's fuel. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to non-AFFF firefighting compositions and methods of making and using same. Applicants disclose firefighting compositions that comprise a wetting agent and a thickening agent. Such thickening agent captures and changes the chemical properties of fuel vapors as they permeate around and through the bubbles of a firefighting composition. Such firefighting compositions are particularly useful in fighting Class B fires. Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the present invention. FIG. 1 depicts time to extinguish a Class B (ethanol free gasoline fire) using four different concentrates that are mixed with water, on a weight based on total composition weight, wherein said water is 97% of said composition and said concentrate is 3% by weight of said composition wherein COTDS control is Dawn™ Dish Soap, A2.5 is 2.5% aluminum 2-ethylhexanoate used on a total Dawn™ Dish Soap, aluminum 2-ethylhexanoate weight basis, and F2.5 is xanthan gum used on a total Dawn™ Dish Soap
Filing details
- Inventors
- Jeffery R. Owens
- Assignee
- Government Of The United States As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air …
- Filed
- Feb 24, 2025
- Granted
- Application pending
Bibliographic data and excerpted text sourced from Google Patents (public record) as part of IP TechMatch's current-filings monitor. This filing is not part of the 2019 historical archive. For the authoritative full text, drawings, and legal status, see the source links above or consult USPTO records directly.