Nano Terra, Inc. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.1

Description

Wildland fires cost billions of dollars a year in the US, threatening homes, lives, and valuable natural resources. Large amounts of chemical additives, including those in water enhancers, foam fire suppressants, and long-term retardants are used in battling wildland fires to slow the spread of the fire and enable firefighters to work safely on the ground. Millions of gallons of water and hundreds of thousands of gallons of fire retardant can be used in one wildland fire. Some of the chemicals used can cause significant negative downstream environmental effects, such as algae blooms and toxicity to fish and other aquatic life. Nano Terra has developed water-soluble ammonium-free phosphate-based fire retardants and silicone-phosphate surfactants. Our preliminary lab tests show these formulations significantly improve fire extinguishing performance of an aqueous formulation. Nano Terra will optimize these additives for use as long-term fire retardants for applications in aerial firefighting. The focus of this effort is to develop non-toxic, ammonium-free formulations for the management of wildland fires, especially in aerial firefighting applications. The new water-based formulations will protect our precious forest resources without using or releasing toxic chemicals, even upon burningthat can pollute the environment and cause health issues. In addition, these formulations also could be used for fire protection in airplanes, buses, trains, airports, and fuel stations.