The polymer problem: Fomtec challenges industry dependence on unstable polymer systems
Iain Hoey
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John Ottesen, Founder and CEO at Dafo Fomtec AB, discusses developing a high performance SFFF without partially hydrated natural polymers
Across many sites the practical work of replacing PFAS-based foams has begun, with attention turning to whether alternatives can deliver recognised fire test performance while fitting into existing proportioning and storage arrangements.
That focus has brought polymer choice to the fore because it strongly influences drainage, heat resistance, viscosity and long-term behaviour in service.
Fluorine based foams such as FP, AFFF, FFFP and their alcohol resistant derivatives are being phased out due to the persistence of PFAS chemicals and the health and environmental impact of certain identified members of the PFAS group.
Attention has shifted toward synthetic fluorine-free foams (SFFF) as we look to replace the PFAS foams with alternatives offering similar firefighting performance.
These foams also promise environmental safety, but as we strive for equivalency in performance many of them introduce a different kind of risk: reliance on polymer chemistry and specifically partially hydrated natural polymers.
Polymers in firefighting foam
The use of natural polymers in firefighting foams is not a new technology, having first emerged in the 1970’s with the early alcohol resistant foams.
Standard hydrocarbon foams such as FP, AFFF and FFFP when applied to a water miscible fuel such as acetone or IPA are not able to retain a foam blanket.
Foam chemists found that the addition of natural polymers into the foam concentrate allowed a polymeric layer to drop out and form a barrier between the foam bubbles and the water miscible fuels.
These polymers had additional benefits to the performance of the firefighting foam as they produced slower draining foams and the stronger bubble structure often led to improved heat resistance.
These performance enhancing features led to Alcohol Resistant foams becoming almost universally adopted as the foam agent of choice for emergency response firefighting on large fires in the high hazard industries on hydrocarbon fuel fires since the 1990’s.
From the early 1970’s into the 2010’s manufacturers experimented with different polymers and quantities in their foam concentrates as they wrestled with fundamental issues:
- The addition of polymers increased the viscosity of the foam concentrate
- Maintaining these polymers in solution or suspension through the life of the foam concentrate, also talked about as the stability of the foam
The question of viscosity can be discussed as an engineering issue because if you know the viscosity then the equipment and system can be designed accordingly to handle the foam concentrate, with proportioning and pumping selected to suit the measured rheology.
Of course, the viscosity and the shear rates must be known and remain constant for those assumptions to hold.
Stability on the other hand is something that every foam manufacturer has faced at some point in time, whether due to a batch issue, raw materials out of specification or incorrect quantities in the batch, or due to storage and climatic conditions with their clients, and when stability issues occurred what was typically seen was separation of the foam concentrate with the polymers either sinking or floating separated from the surfactant mixture.
Over 30 plus years of manufacturing these products the manufacturers have been able to determine the best combination of polymers and quantities to achieve the optimal balance of viscosity, fire performance and achieve a safe window of stability for the concentrate.
For Fomtec this involves adding our polymer combination up to around 1% by volume in our top performing 3 x 3 products.
SFFF’s and polymers
With the demise of PFAS containing foams, Fomtec, along with the other foam manufacturers has had to develop new formulations accepting that like the early pure protein foams we are now entirely reliant on the blanket integrity for our extinguishing and burnback security.
Fomtec returned to natural polymers to improve performance by creating slow draining bubbles with good heat resistance.
The formulation approach remains in that increased polymers leads to a more viscous foam concentrate and potential stability issues with the concentrate.
With the transition to fluorine free foams more emphasis on viscosity was inevitable due to capabilities of existing equipment and this desire to have the combination of fire performance and a lower viscosity has seen a number of manufacturers formulating with partially hydrated polymers, or what we at Fomtec like to call hidden gum.
While effective in the lab and the fire test house, this approach introduces vulnerabilities that can compromise firefighting performance in the field.
The partially hydrated polymer challenge
Water sensitivity and storage instability
Polymers are also highly sensitive to moisture during storage.
In humid environments or when water ingress occurs in foam storage tanks, partly hydrated polymers will hydrate if they come into contact with water.
This causes them to swell and increase the viscosity of the concentrate.
This can occur as lumps or more generally an increase in viscosity that can lead to system malfunction.
The risks include:
- Blocked pumps and nozzles, reducing delivery capacity
- Unpredictable viscosity, disrupting proportioning accuracy
- Batch-to-batch performance variability, leading to performance variability
System-level risks in fire protection
In applications such as aviation hangars, petrochemical terminals, offshore installations and chemical processing plants it is difficult to observe polymer behaviour inside fixed systems during transition projects.
Concentrate pipelines can be complex and impossible to inspect, so confirming that all cleaning water is removed before filling new concentrate can be very challenging, and even a small amount of retained moisture can influence the behaviour of a partly hydrated polymer once the system is back in service.
How competitors still depend on polymers
Most foam manufacturers continue to rely on partially hydrated polymers as the foundation of their SFFF performance.
This dependency creates a balancing act between the need for lower stable viscosity and the risk of hydration variability.
It is a matter of creating a finely balanced formulation where the partly hydrated polymers are restricted from developing viscosity, and this finely balanced formulation can be very sensitive to ambient conditions leading to instability.
Adjustments to polymer type and concentration have offered incremental improvements, but none have solved the fundamental hydration problem.
This means that across the industry many partially hydrated polymer-based foams still face the dual risks of instability and viscosity changes in real world use.
Dafo Fomtec AB continues to follow a fully hydrated path
Fomtec has always used formulations based on fully hydrated polymers and thus raising the bar making it more challenging to achieve the highest ratings in some fire performance standards, specifically with burnback performance with saltwater.
Now, through proprietary formulation technology, Fomtec has launched a new generation of Enviro high performance foam agents based on fully hydrated natural polymers.
This is an evolution through 15 years of research and development in the Enviro Program and more than 3500 fire tests.
No loss of performance
The most remarkable aspect of this innovation is that Fomtec’s fully hydrated polymer foams perform at the highest level without compromise.
Internationally certified: independent testing shows that Fomtec’s foams meet or exceed EN 1568, ICAO and UL162 requirements for extinguishment and burn-back resistance.
Stable storage life: with fully hydrated polymers, with no polymers to hydrate or degrade, concentrates remain consistent.
Reliable system delivery: no lumps, gels or clogging means foam systems work as designed in real emergencies.
Water-quality independence: performance is consistent across different types of water supplies.
This combination of established chemistry and proven fire performance sets Fomtec apart from every other foam manufacturer globally.
Regulatory and environmental context
The timing of this breakthrough is significant.
Across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, regulations are tightening on both PFAS chemicals and the performance standards for their replacements.
Users are under pressure to:
- Phase out PFAS based foams
- Ensure environmental compatibility of alternatives
- Maintain or improve performance levels required by regulators and insurers
Fomtec’s fully hydrated polymer technology directly addresses these concerns, providing an environmentally sustainable solution with stable performance, which aligns with what regulators, insurers and fire brigades require.
Why it matters
Fire brigades, airports, oil and gas operators and industrial sites need confidence that their foam will perform as specified, proportion within tolerance and store without unwanted change.
By removing the dependency on partially hydrated polymers, Fomtec avoids the hydration-driven variability that can change viscosity and delivery in service, supporting a predictable transition from PFAS based agents to SFFF in existing equipment.
