EXTINGUISHING MEDIA FOR SPILLED FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS

Abstract

The spill of oil and oil products on the surface of the reservoir, in addition to direct material damage, leads to environmental disasters. The combustion of these hydrocarbons causes additional harm to the environment. In such fires, a large amount of harmful substances are formed, which contribute to global warming and have a toxic effect on people and animals. To collect liquids spilled on the surface of the reservoir, several methods and means have been created, which are based either on the collection of the upper layers of water with subsequent separation, or on the use of various types of sorbents. However, the use of oil spill control tools created by different countries, firms and individual inventors is possible only if there is free access to the oil slick. There is no such access as long as the fire continues. It urgently needs to be extinguished in order to start using the developed oil spill control measures as soon as possible and thus reduce its spread. The currently known means of extinguishing fires in the event of burning oil and oil products spilled on the sea surface are ineffective. The results of the development of a series of new fire extinguishing agents designed to extinguish such fires are presented. The means are highly porous carriers with particle sizes from 1 to 5 mm (expanded vermiculite or wood chips) with fire extinguishing agents, fire extinguishing salts or a mixture immobilized on the inner walls of the capillaries, or a mixture that forms a fire extinguishing aerosol under the influence of the fire temperature. Fire-extinguishing salts (ammonium and diammonium phosphate), a mixture of an oxidizing agent (potassium nitrate) with a reducing agent (polyvinyl alcohol), or (when using wood chips) only an oxidizing agent are used as immobilizers. In the latter case, the carrier itself acts as an reducing agent. The developed means can stay on the surface of the reservoir for a long time, i.e. in the combustion zone, relatively inexpensive and completely harmless.