Fluorine-free firefighting foam without compromise: The role of Enviro 3×3 NEO from Dafo Fomtec

John Olav Ottesen explains how the company’s new fluorine-free firefighting foam combines evidence-led testing, fully hydrated polymer technology and operational reliability

In January 2026 Dafo Fomtec announced the launch of Enviro 3×3 NEO, the sixth-generation alcohol-resistant synthetic fluorine-free firefighting foam (AR SFFF) that represents the culmination of its Enviro Programme.

Following the launch, International Fire & Safety Journal sat down with Founder and CEO John Olav Ottesen to discuss what sets the new concentrate apart, why an evidence-led testing programme has underpinned Fomtec’s approach to the fluorine-free transition and why the Middle East remains central to its strategy as the GCC accelerates its own move away from PFAS-based foams.

Enviro 3×3 NEO is described as the sixth generation in the Enviro range. Where does it sit in Fomtec’s line-up and why now?

NEO is the product that the Enviro Programme has been driving towards from the beginning. It is an alcohol-resistant synthetic fluorine-free concentrate engineered specifically for petrochemical, oil and gas, marine and offshore operations.

The timing of the launch reflects both where the regulatory landscape is heading and where our evidence base has brought us.

NEO delivers the performance profile those high-hazard industries demand, while meeting the environmental expectations industry and regulators are rightly placing on us. It is, in every sense, a no-compromise product.

You describe the Enviro Programme as the foundation of everything Fomtec has done in SFFFs. Why has it mattered so much and what has it actually delivered?

When we began the Enviro Programme more than a decade ago, we recognised early that removing fluorine from firefighting foam could not be a marketing exercise and had to be science.

Fluorinated foams had decades of real-world data behind them; a credible fluorine-free

alternative needed a comparable evidence base and it did not yet exist. The Programme has been built on full-scale fire testing at a scale few have attempted: over 2,500 full-scale fires to date, on hydrocarbons from heptane to Jet A-1 to plant-based fuels and gasoline blends, alongside polar solvents, foam destroyers and fuels tested with fresh, brackish and sea water.

Out of it has come the entire Enviro family (Class A, ICAO, USP, ARK, 3×3 Plus, Ultra, eMax and now NEO). We have also developed an analytical modelling tool that allows us to predict performance on a client’s fuel without setting it on fire.

For Fomtec, the Enviro Programme is a benchmark for how fluorine-free foam should be developed and not just a research project.

The launch material highlights the elimination of the “hidden gum” effect associated with partially hydrated polymer systems. Can you expand on this and explain where it sits within Fomtec’s broader formulation approach?

This goes to the heart of Fomtec’s formulation philosophy and it applies across the entire Enviro range. Alcohol-resistant foams need polymers to build the membrane that extinguishes polar solvent fires, but how those polymers are handled in the concentrate matters enormously.

There are broadly three possibilities. Un-hydrated polymers — essentially dry polymer added to the concentrate — will absorb water unpredictably over time, leading to viscosity drift, sediment formation and potential proportioning failure.

Partially hydrated polymers avoid the dry-powder problem but bring their own issue: the “hidden gum” effect, where viscosity increase, phase separation and polymer drop-out can develop when the foam encounters water ingress or suboptimal storage.

Either way, the operator ends up with a concentrate that no longer behaves like the product they originally approved. Fomtec’s commitment, across every AR product in the Enviro range, is to use only 100% fully hydrated polymers. That is a formulation decision, not a marketing one.

It means stable viscosity and known shear-thinning today and in the  future. For high-hazard sites where systems can sit dormant for long periods and must perform on first demand, that reliability is not optional.

NEO is a 3 × 3 product (3% for hydrocarbons and 3% for polar solvents). Why does that matter operationally?

For any facility holding both hydrocarbon and polar solvent inventories a single 3% concentrate simplifies almost everything. One product in the tank, one proportioning setting, one set of procedures.

The envelope includes MEK, ethyl and butyl acetate, IPA, methanol, ethanol and acetone, and it handles what we call “foam destroyers” such as MTBE. For a fire officer, that breadth under one SKU is a real operational advantage.

Performance with seawater and brackish water is repeatedly highlighted in the NEO documentation. Does that tie back to what we have just been discussing?

Directly. Many GCC and offshore installations draw firewater from the sea and the quality is simply not a controlled variable. We have validated NEO across fresh, brackish and sea water so the performance envelope is the same whichever source the deluge draws from.

The 100% hydrated polymer formulation holds its viscosity and shear-thinning profile and proportioning remains uniform.  For Gulf operators, marine and offshore facilities anywhere in the world, that consistency across water qualities is what separates a predictable fire performance margin from a guess.

ECHA’s restriction dossier is advancing, with SEAC and RAC opinions due by end-2026 and legislation anticipated in 2027. How should end users interpret the timeline?

I would urge end users not to confuse the regulatory timetable with their own planning timetable. Even with the derogations we expect — and Fomtec has

consistently supported the time-limited derogations approach — the direction of travel is settled globally, not just in Europe. The GCC is watching ECHA closely and procurement specifications in the region are already shifting toward fluorine-free.

A safe transition takes time, and Fomtec continues to supply fresh, approved C6 foam to customers while they plan and execute that work. That is not a contradiction; it is how we reduce risk. A responsible transition is holistic — the foam, the system, the procedures, the training.

What should the industry, and the Middle East region in particular, take from NEO and the next phase of the Enviro Programme?

First, demand evidence: ask your foam supplier for full-scale data on your fuels, your hardware and your water quality. Second, treat fluorine-free as an engineering project, not a procurement decision. Third, start now. Enviro 3×3 NEO is where the Enviro Programme was always heading, but the Programme continues — more fuels, more hardware combinations, more validation.

The Middle East will be central to that next phase, through Leaders in Fire 2026, through Intersec and through engagement with the region’s NOCs and the wider JOIFF community. We are ready for what comes next — and with NEO, our customers are too.