Use of high molecular weight acrylic polymers in fire fighting foams

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10369394-B2
Application number	US-201414775607-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Aqueous firefighting composition concentrates are provided that contain an effective amount of a high molecular weight water soluble anionic acrylic polymer, an effective amount of at least one high molecular weight polysaccharide gum; and an effective amount of at least one surfactant. In the present context, a high molecular weight water-soluble anionic acrylic polymer is a polymer with an average molecular weight M w of at least one million (1000 kDa). The combination of the acrylic polymer and the gum provide a concentrate that generates foam with highly desirable firefighting properties, including high foam expansion ratio, long burnback time, and slow drainage time while avoiding problems with previous gum-containing foam concentrates, such as high viscosity and component separation upon storage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aqueous firefighting foam concentrate comprising:
0.1% to 18% by weight of a water soluble anionic acrylic polymer having an average molecular weight of 1000 to 2000 kDa;
0.2 to 7% by weight of at least two types of polysaccharide gums in total; and
1 to 25% by weight of at least one surfactant.

2. The concentrate according to claim 1 wherein said surfactant is a non-fluorinated surfactant and said composition is substantially free of any organofluorine compounds.

3. The concentrate according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer is a polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid having an average molecular weight of about 1,800 to 2000 kDa.

4. The concentrate according to claim 3 , wherein the concentrate comprises about 2% by weight of a galactomannan gum and about 2% by weight of a xanthan gum.

5. The concentrate according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer is polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid.

6. The concentrate according to claim 1 , further comprising a solvent.

7. The concentrate according to claim 6 wherein said solvent is selected from the group consisting of propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and butylcarbitol.

8. The concentrate according to claim 1 , wherein one of said polysaccharide gums is a galactomannan gum.

9. The concentrate according to claim 1 , wherein one of said polysaccharide gums is a xanthan gum.

10. The concentrate according to claim 1 , comprising at least one galactomannan gum and at least one xanthan gum.

11. The concentrate according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one surfactant is selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactants, zwitterionic surfactants and nonionic surfactants.

12. A firefighting foam comprising a concentrate according to claim 1 and water.

13. An aqueous firefighting foam concentrate comprising:
1 to 5 wt. % of a water soluble polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid having an average molecular weight of 1000 to 2000 kDa;
2 to 5 wt. % polysaccharide gum, which includes galactomannan gum and xanthan gum;
1-10 wt % anionic surfactant;
5-20 wt % alkylpolyglycoside surfactant; and
5-25 wt % zwitterionic surfactant.

14. The concentrate of claim 13 , wherein the anionic surfactant comprises alkyl sulfate; the zwitterionic surfactant comprises alkyl iminodialkanoate; and the alkylpolyglycoside surfactant, comprises C 8 -C 10 alkyl polyglycoside.

15. The concentrate of claim 13 , wherein the concentrate further solvent selected from the group consisting of comprises glycols, glycol ethers and combinations thereof.

16. The concentrate of claim 15 , wherein the concentrate comprises solvent selected from the group consisting of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and/or butylcarbitol.

17. The concentrate of claim 13 , wherein the polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid has an average molecular weight of at least about 1,500 kDa.

18. The concentrate of claim 13 , wherein the concentrate comprises about 2 wt. % of the galactomannan gum and about 2 wt. % of the xanthan gum.

19. The concentrate of claim 13 , comprising 2 to 4 wt. % of the water soluble polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid, which has an average molecular weight of at least 1500 kDa.

20. An aqueous firefighting foam concentrate comprising:
1 to 5 wt. % of a water soluble polyacrylamidomethylpropane sulfonic acid having an average molecular weight of at least about 1500 kDa;
2 to 5 wt. % polysaccharide gum, which includes at least one galactomannan gum and at least one xanthan gum;
1-10 wt % anionic surfactant, which comprises alkyl sulfate;
5-20 wt % alkylpolyglycoside surfactant;
5-25 wt % zwitterionic surfactant, which comprises alkyl iminodialkanoate; and
5-20 wt % solvent selected from the group consisting of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and/or butylcarbitol.

Assignees

• Tyco Fire Products Lp

Inventors

• Bowen Martina E

Classifications

• A62D1/0042

  "Wet" water, i.e. containing surfactant · CPC title

• A62D1/0071 Primary

  Foams · CPC title

• A62D1/0035

  Aqueous solutions · CPC title