Study on Environmental Regulation of Aqueous Film Forming Foam and Use of C4-Based Eco-Friendly Aqueous Film Forming Foam

Abstract

The C8-based aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) was developed by 3M in 1960, initially for military purposes, and was then used in all U.S. Navy vessels until the late 1960s. The U.S. Department of Defense used the AFFF for fuel fire suppression in all military facilities in the 1970s. The AFFF was classified as a special fire extinguishing chemical used for an airplane hangar or an aircraft carrier. Despite its strong fire extinguishing capacity, the AFFF is not commonly used by civilians, mainly due to the cost factor and environmental issues. In particular, the main organic chemical component of the AFFF is resistant to degradation; it tends to persist in the ecological system and in the human body, consequently having grievous effects. The paper describes the causes and measures of the AFFF use regulations by the Stockholm Convention concerning persistent organic chemicals. The manuscript also introduces the C4-based eco-friendly AFFF, a fire extinguishing chemical developed in China, as a part of the measure and addresses the meaning of “C4-Based.” Moreover, the study verifies that the representative regulation targets for perfluorooctane sulfonates (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are not detected in the C4-based eco-friendly AFFF fire extinguishing chemical, as revealed by a test on “the method for analyzing PFOS/PFOA” in the chemical product based on the National Standard Test KS M 9722:2017. Accordingly, various fire extinguishers using the C4-based eco-friendly AFFF with strong and extensive fire extinguishing capacity are proposed, and the other use methods.