Environmentally Acceptable Fire Extinguishants
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NIST GCR 06-901 Environmentally Acceptable Fire Extinguishants J. Douglas Mather Chemical Development Studies, Inc. Robert E. Tapscott GlobeTech, Inc. Notice This report was prepared for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology under grant number 60NANB3D1001, with funding from the Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. The statements and conclusions contained in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, or the Department of Defense. Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology or the Department of Defense, nor is it intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. The policy of NIST is to use metric units of measurement in all its publications, and to provide statements of uncertainty for all original measurements. In this document, however, data from organizations outside NIST are shown. These data may include measurements in non-metric units or measurements without uncertainty statements. NIST GCR 06-901 Environmentally Acceptable Fire Suppressants Prepared for U.S. Department of Commerce Building and Fire Research Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8664 By J. Douglas Mather Chemical Development Studies, Inc. Robert E. Tapscott GlobeTech, Inc. Under Grant No. 60 NANB3D1001 August 2007 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION Robert C. Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY William A. Jeffrey, Director National Institute of Standards and Technology Grant/Contract Report 06-901 Natl. Inst. Stand. Grant/Contract Report 06-901, 122 pages (August 2007) CODEN: NSPUE2 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 2007 _________________________________________ For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov — Phone: (202) 512-1800 — Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 Form Approved REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188), Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED 5/31/2006 Final Report, 2/15/2003 – 5/31/2006 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS ENVIRONMENTALLY ACCEPTABLE FIRE NIST Award # 60NANB3D1001 EXTINGUISHANTS 6. AUTHOR(S) J. Douglas Mather, Robert E. Tapscott 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER Chemical Development Studies, Inc. 7636 William Moyers Avenue, NE CDS2006/1/001 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87122 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER Department of Defense – Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program 11 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) Aircraft fire suppression applications inherently demanding performance requirements, made all the more challenging by low temperature conditions, physical inaccessibility, and high and possibly uncertain air flow conditions, have been historically addressed through the use of halon 1301 – a low boiling, highly effective chemical fire suppressant. To some extent these challenges have also been met by the chemical suppressant halon 1211 and to an even lesser degree by other halons. Current commercially available non- ozone depleting non-brominated halon 1301 replacements (other than CF3I) are lacking in fire suppression effectiveness because they do not contain bromine in their molecular structure. One approach to retaining bromine (and iodine) in fire suppressants is through the use of short atmospheric lifetime - tropodegradable - compounds. A review project identified chemical families with potential to be chemically active and possible short atmospheric lifetime characteristics. These include brominated alkenes, ethers, and amines. Acquisition of low boiling members of these chemical families as well as several other formerly unstudied but potentially short atmospheric lifetime brominated families was initiated under this project. Also included were efforts to identify screening methods for cardiac sensitization tests. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES alkene, amine, arrhythmia, bromine, cardiac sensitization, cup burner, ether, fire, fire suppression, flame, toxicity, tropodegradable 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT CLASSIFICATION OF OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT REPORT UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED NSN 7540-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) PREFACE This Final Project Report was prepared by Chemical Development Studies, Inc., Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the Department of Defense, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), and was funded as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fire Research Grants Program. The NIST Grant Number was 60NANB3D1001. This is Project Element 4B/6/2345 under the Next Generation Fire Suppression Technology Program (NGP). The Start Date was 15 February 2003, and the End Date was 31 May 2006. The Scientific Officer for the grant was Dr. Richard G. Gann, National Institute of Standards and Technology; the Principal Investigator (PI) was Dr. J. Douglas Mather, Chemical Development Studies, Inc. Dr. Robert E. Tapscott, GlobeTech, Inc, served as the project’s Deputy PI. iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page A. BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................1 1. The Challenge..............................................................................................1 2. Prior Examinations of Chemicals ................................................................2 3. Chemical Volatility Limit Estimation and Chemical Options.....................7 4. Early Toxicity Assessments (Testing, Estimation, and Modeling Efforts)16 B. PROJECT TASKS AND OBJECTIVES............................................................33 C. TECHNICAL PROBLEMS................................................................................34 D. GENERAL METHODOLOGY..........................................................................34 E. TECHNICAL RESULTS....................................................................................35 F. IMPORTANT FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS...........................................35 G. SIGNIFICANT HARDWARE DEVELOPMENTS...........................................36 H. SPECIAL COMMENTS.....................................................................................36 I. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH...............................................36 SECTION II. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................37 SECTION III. DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION ..............................................................38 A. HALON REPLACEMENT CHEMICAL FAMILY REVIEWS........................38 1. Bromofluoroalkenes - High Priority Chemical Family .............................38 2. Phosphorus Acids and Esters - High Priority Chemical Families .............40 3. Fluoroamines - High Priority Chemical Family ........................................43 4. Brominated Fluoroamines - High Priority Chemical Family ....................45 5. Manganese and Tin Compounds - High Priority Chemical Family ..........46 6. Bromofluoropropene Oxides - High Priority Chemical Family ................47 7. Iodinated Alkanes - Medium Priority Chemical Family ...........................47 8. Iodinated Alkenes - Medium Priority Chemical Family ...........................48 9. Brominated Ethers - Medium Priority Chemical Family...........................49 10. Fluorinated Aldehydes and Ketones - Medium Priority Chemical Families50 v 11. Phosphorus Halides and Phosphonitriles - Medium Priority Chemical Families...............................................................................................................50 12. Iron Compounds - Medium Priority Chemical Family..............................52 13. Iodine Containing Ethers - Low Priority Chemical Family.......................52 14. Bromofluoro-Alcohols - Low Priority Chemical Family ..........................52 15. Fluorinated and Brominated Nitriles - Low Priority Chemical Family.....53 16. Copper Compounds - Low Priority Chemical