Fire-fighting foam concentrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11938362-B2
Application number	US-202318307680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2023
Priority date	May 14, 2021
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

A method of fighting a fire, the method includes aerating a firefighting foam composition to form an areated firefighting foam; administering the aerated firefighting foam to a fire or applying the aerated firefighting foam to a surface of a volatile flammable liquid; wherein: the firefighting foam composition includes a sugar component comprising a monosaccharide sugar, a sugar alcohol, or a combination thereof; a polysaccharide thickener; a surfactant component comprising an anionic surfactant, a zwitterionic surfactant or a mixture of any two or more thereof; a water-miscible organic solvent; and at least about 30 wt. % water.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A firefighting foam composition comprising:
a sugar component comprising at least 50 wt. % of a monosaccharide sugar, a sugar alcohol, or a mixture of any two or more thereof;
a polysaccharide thickener;
a suspension agent comprising microfibrous cellulose;
a surfactant component comprising an anionic, surfactant and a zwitterionic surfactant;
a water-miscible organic solvent comprising a glycol, a glycol ether, a glycerol, a or a mixture of any two or more thereof; and
wherein the firefighting foam concentrate is substantially free of non-ionic surfactants.

2. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein greater than 50 wt. % of the microfibrous cellulose is dispersed in the firefighting foam concentrate and not solubilized.

3. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the microfibrous cellulose is derived from microbial fermentation.

4. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the suspension agent comprises microfibrous cellulose, xanthan gum, and carboxymethyl cellulose in a ratio of about 6:3:1, or a mixture of microfibrous cellulose, guar gum, and carboxymethyl cellulose in a ratio of about 3:1:1.

5. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant component includes:
about 2 to 20 wt. % of an anionic surfactant comprising an aliphatic sulfate salt, an aliphatic sulfonate salt, an aliphatic ether sulfate salt, an aliphatic ether sulfate salt, or a mixture of any two or more thereof; and
about 1 to 10 wt. % of a zwitterionic surfactant comprising an alkylamidoalkyl betaine, an alkyl sulfobetaine, an alkylamidoalkyl hydroxysultaine, an alkyl hydroxysultaine, or a mixture of any two or more thereof.

6. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 3 further comprising about 0.2 to 5 wt. % of an aliphatic alcohol.

7. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the concentrate contains no more than 0.01 wt. % fluorinated surfactants.

8. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the sugar component comprises glucose, fructose, mannose, xylose, xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, or a combination of any two or more thereof.

9. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the sugar component comprises at least about 75 wt. % of a monosaccharide sugar, a sugar alcohol, or a mixture thereof.

10. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the microfibrous cellulose is derived from a fermentation process.

11. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the microfibrous cellulose is derived from a mechanical treatment of wood, cereal, cotton, or root vegetable fibers.

12. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 comprising about 0.1 to about 5 wt. % of the suspension agent.

13. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 12 comprising about 0.5 to about 3 wt. % of the suspension agent.

14. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 comprising:
about 5 to 40 wt. % of the sugar component;
about 0.1 to 5 wt. % of the polysaccharide thickener;
about 0.5 to about 3 wt. % of the suspension agent; and
about 1 to 20 wt. % of the water-miscible organic solvent.

15. The firefighting foam concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant component includes an anionic surfactant comprising an alkyl sulfate salt, an alkyl sulfonate salt, an alkyl ether sulfate surfactant, an alkyl ether sulfonate surfactant, or a mixture of any two or more thereof.

16. A method of making a firefighting foam concentrate, the method comprising:
forming a suspension agent by blending microfibrous cellulose with a solvent at sufficient shear to disperse fibers of the microfibrous cellulose in the solvent;
blending the suspension agent with:
a sugar component comprising at least 50 wt. % of a monosaccharide sugar, a sugar alcohol, or a mixture of any two or more thereof;
a polysaccharide thickener;
a surfactant component comprising an anionic, surfactant and a zwitterionic surfactant;
a water-miscible organic solvent comprising a glycol, a glycol ether, a glycerol, or a mixture of any two or more thereof; and

wherein the firefighting foam concentrate is substantially free of non-ionic surfactants.

17. A method of fighting a fire comprising:
aerating a firefighting foam composition to form an aerated firefighting foam;
administering the aerated firefighting foam to a fire or applying the aerated firefighting foam to a surface of a volatile flammable liquid;
wherein:
the firefighting foam composition comprises:
a sugar component comprising at least 50 wt. % of a monosaccharide sugar, a sugar alcohol, or a mixture of any two or more thereof;
a polysaccharide thickener;
a suspension agent comprising microfibrous cellulose;
a surfactant component comprising an anionic, surfactant and a zwitterionic surfactant;
a water-miscible organic solvent comprising a glycol, a glycol ether, a glycerol, a, or a mixture of any two or more thereof; and
at least about 30 wt. % water; and
wherein the firefighting foam concentrate is substantially free of non-ionic surfactants.

Assignees

• Tyco Fire Products Lp

Inventors

• Monfils Joanna M
• Libal John P
• Bomann Blake H
• Chaltry Robert A
• Monfils Adam L

Classifications

• A62D1/0042 Primary

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

• A62D1/0071 Primary

  Foams · CPC title

• A62C99/0036

  using foam · CPC title