Comparative assessment of environmental parameters of foaming agents based on synthetic hydrocarbon used for extinguishing the fires of oil and petroleum products

Abstract

The paper examines in detail the environmental impact of foaming agents used for extinguishing Class B fires, which include oil and petroleum product fires. There is a significant negative impact on the environment of long-chain fluorine-containing foaming agents and the search for alternatives of their use for firefighting. The advantages of calculation methods for determining the environmental parameters of foaming agents to extinguish fires, taking into account their chemical structure, are noted. The method «Quantitative Structure - Property Relationships» was used for obtaining BCF, LC50 (Fathead Minnow, Daphnia Magna), IGC50 (Tetrahymena Pyriformis) for a number of foaming agents with a carbon chain length C8-C14, containing fluorine and fluorine-free. It is shown that according to BCF the safest is sodium lauryl sulfate, according to LC50 (Daphnia Magna) the safest of the studied are foaming agents based on alkyl compounds Sodium decyl sulfate, Sodium lauryl sulphate, Triethanolamine salt of deсyl sulfate (third class of acute toxicity), whereas fluorine-containing compounds (6:2 fluorotelomers) according to LC50 (Daphnia Magna) belong to the first class of acute toxicity (the most dangerous of the studied compounds). Keywords: fluorine-free foaming agent; fluorotelomer; oil; petroleum products; extinguishing the fires; environmental parameter; calculation method.