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Wang2015 Article ApplicationOfGreenSurfactantsD PDF
Wang2015 Article ApplicationOfGreenSurfactantsD PDF
Ó 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York. Manufactured in The United States
DOI: 10.1007/s10694-014-0422-5
Peng Wang*, The Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces Academy, Langfang
065000 Hebei, China
Abstract. The green surfactants were used to develop environment friendly foam
extinguishing agent instead of fluorocarbon surfactant. The surface tension and foam
property of a variety of green surfactants were studied by orthogonal experiments.
Alkyl glucose amide and organosilicone surfactant were selected. The foam property
of alkyl glucose amide and surface tension of organosilicone surfactant were experi-
mentally studied. And finally, the content of two surfactants were determined by con-
sidering the interaction of orthogonal experiments. The fire extinguishing
performance of 2.5% alkyl glucose amide and 2% organosilicone surfactant contain-
ing foam extinguishing agent met the national standard requirements. Conclusion:
alkyl glucose amide and organosilicone surfactant can replace fluorocarbon surfac-
tant in foam extinguishing agent. This fire extinguishing agent is completely in con-
formity with ‘‘Stockholm Convention’’, and environment friendly foam extinguishing
agent.
Keywords: Green surfactants, Alkyl glucose amides, Organosilicone surfactant, Orthogonal experiment,
Stockholm Convention
1. Introduction
Fluorocarbon surfactant is the key ingredient in aqueous film-forming foam extin-
guishing agent, because of its high surface activity and oleophobicity. However,
Fluorocarbon surfactant has high chemical stability and thermal stability, and is
difficult to degrade in a long-term and pollutes the environment. So, its usage
arouses international attention. Among them, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS),
an internationally recognized POPs, which was included in the ‘‘About the Stock-
holm convention on persistent organic pollutants (pops)’’ [1–3]. The need for envi-
ronmentally acceptable fire fighting foams is very important, with Stockholm
Convention, Fourth Conference of Parties restrictions on perfluorooctanesulfonic
acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF) (May 2009).
Other fluorosurfactants have been used to produce effective foam agents, but
restrictions on them will most likely evolve.
It was Japanese experts who first use green surfactants to develop environment
friendly foam extinguishing agent. Japanese expert Shika Bo has invented a kind
of foam extinguishing agent without fluorocarbon surfactant in 2005 [4], using
betaine typed surfactants. Atsushi Ohya has invented a kind of fire extinguishing
agent which exhibits both high fire extinguishing performance and high safety to
the human body. The fire extinguishing agent is composed of one or more alkali
metal carboxylates selected from potassium acetate, potassium citrate, sodium ace-
tate, and sodium citrate; one or more natural surfactants selected from lecithin,
saponin, and casein; a lower alcohol having four or less carbon atoms which is
designated as a food additive; and water [5]. Izumida Masashi has invented a kind
of fire extinguishing agent which has both high fire-extinguishing performance and
a high level of safety to the environment and the human body. This fire extin-
guishing agent is characterized by containing a biosurfactant [6]. The natural sur-
factants used by Japanese experts: lecithin, saponin; or biosurfactants:
rhamnolipid, surfactin and so on, are very environment friendly, but also very
expensive. The high price of these natural surfactants has prevented their usage in
industrial production of foam fire extinguishing agent. Ted H. Schaefer studied
sealability properties of Fluorine-Free Fire-Fighting Foams (FfreeF) [7]. And Ber-
nard Król studied Biodegradability of Firefighting Foams [8].
This paper finds surfactants which are both biodegradable and cheap, and use
such surfactants instead of fluorocarbon surfactants to develop environment
friendly foam fire extinguishing agent. The Key technology is whether it can find a
surfactant that reduces the surface tension, so that the foam can rapidly spread on
the aliphatic hydrocarbon mixture surface or not.
1 Soybean lecithin SL Natural China Beijing JingTong LeTai chemical product co., ltd.
2 Organosilicone surfactant OSS Organosilicon China Shanghai LuHong agricultural science and technology co., ltd.
3 Alkyl glycoside APG Nonionic China LinYi LanShan LvSen chemical industry co., ltd.
4 Alkyl glucose amide AGA Nonionic China ShangHai ZhengQi trading co., ltd
5 Methyl ester sulfonate MES Anionic China LinYi LanShan LvSen chemical industry co., ltd.
6 Sodium lauroyl glutamate SLG Amino acid China LinYi LanShan LvSen chemical industry co., ltd.
7 Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate SLS Amino acid China Guangzhou ZhuFeng import and export trade co., ltd.
8 Coconut oil fatty acid glycine potassium GCK-12 K Amino acid Japan Kotobuki Pharmaceutical (bought in China)
9 Cocamidopropyl betaine CAB-35 Betaine China Beijing JingXiFang technology co., ltd.
10 Dodecyl dimethyl betaine BS-12 Betaine China LinYi LanShan LvSen chemical industry co., ltd.
505
506 Fire Technology 2015
Table 2
Formulations of Surfactants Screening Orthogonal Experiment
Formulations SL OSS APG AGA MES SLG SLS GCK-12K CAB-35 BS-12
Table 3
Surfactant Screening Orthogonal Experiment
6.5 240
expansion
drainage time 220
6.0
200
5.5 180
5.0
140
4.5 120
100
4.0
80
3.5
60
3.0 40
20
2.5
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
AGA(%)
foaming of alkyl glucose amide and reducing the surface tension of organosilicone
surfactant, to determine the content of the two surfactants in the formulation of
fire extinguishing agent.
27
surface tension
25
24
23
22
21
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2
OSS (%)
Table 4
Formulations of Orthogonal Experiment Considering the Interaction
1 2 1.8
2 2 2
3 2 2.2
4 2.5 1.8
5 2.5 2
6 2.5 2.2
7 3 1.8
8 3 2
9 3 2.2
textile, food, biology, materials, agricultural and industrial separation and other
industries. The new mild green surfactants were developed in 1990s, represented by
AGA and APG (alkyl glucosides), have been gradually commercialized. From the
physical and chemical properties and abroad application point of view, AGA is not
only as good as APG, but also has even more advantages than APG in some
respects [11, 12].
Table 5
The Orthogonal Experiment Considering Interaction of AGA Between
OSS
Formulations Surface tension (mN/m) Interfacial tension (mN/m) Expansion Drainage time (s)
Table 6
The Sequence of Effect of AGA and OSS on Different Experimental
Items
AGA 1 3 1 1 1
OSS 3 2 3 2 2
interaction 2 1 2 3 3
Experiment is done with the former method. The experimental data are shown in
Figure 2.
Seen from Figure 2, as the OSS content is increased, the surface tension decrea-
ses monotonically. According to the equation for calculating the spreading coeffi-
cient in GB15308-2006 [9] or BS EN 1568-3-2008 [10], after experiment, this paper
thinks that: the surface tension of cyclohexane is greater than 24 mN/m, the inter-
facial tension of cyclohexane between foam is less than 2 mN/m. That is to say, as
long as the foam surface tension is less than 22 mN/m, the spreading coefficient
can be guaranteed positive. So the content of OSS should be more than 1.8%.
(1) poly- and perfluorinated compounds in foam agents provide a important and
intrinsic property - the oleophobicity, but OSS can’t.
(2) While silicone surfactants may reduce surface tension greatly, some are foam
breakers and not foam formers. Thus, some may be useful for fire fighting
foams, others are not and actually break down foams.
6. Conclusion
Through a large number of orthogonal experiments, it comes to the conclusion
that: alkyl glucose amide (AGA) and organosilicone surfactant (OSS) can replace
fluorocarbon surfactant to prepare foam extinguishing agent. So there isn’t per-
fluorooctane sulfonate and other POPs in the foam extinguishing agent. There-
fore, this foam extinguishing agent is completely in conformity with Stockholm
Convention. It is the first reported OSS based fire fighting foam without fluoro-
carbon surfactant, so far as I know.
Should be dedicated to the development of an organosilicone surfactant used in
foam extinguishing agent. This organosilicon surfactant should have oleophobic-
ity, high surface activity, foamability and environment friendly. This is a new way
to solve the pollution problem of AFFF and the author’s work in the future.
Application of Green Surfactants 511
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