Preparation and characterization of fire-extinguishing efficiency of novel gel-protein foam for liquid pool fires

Abstract

The re-ignition of large-scale storage tank fires poses one of the greatest challenges in firefighting and it is thus of practical importance to develop efficient fire extinguishing agents to suppress and control liquid pool fires. In this study, a novel gel-protein foam was prepared. The microstructure, foamability, stability and water retention capacity of the gel-protein foam were analyzed systematically to identify three best formulations, which were then used to assess their fire extinguishing and burnback performance against a commercial film-forming fluoroprotein foam (FFFP). The experimental results indicated that the gel-protein foam with the best fire extinguishing efficiency is the one with a SA/CaCl2 ratio of 9:1 and a concentration of 0.1 wt%. The average size and water loss ratio are 126.46 μm and 30.6%, respectively, compared to 273.24 μm and 44.1% for FFFP. The fire extinguishing tests also confirmed that this gel-protein foam has the best cooling and burnback performance. Its 90% burnback time is 454s, a 54.42% increase that of FFFP, because it can float stably on the fuel surface to reduce the hazard of re-ignition. This work provides important data and guidance in further development of gel foams for extinguishing oil storage tank fires.