Firefighting Foams for Carrying Neutralizing and Decontaminating Substances. Influence of Strong Acids and Bases

Abstract

The authors present results of foam power and foam stability tests for foams generated using alkaline and acidic solutions. Typical firefighting foaming agents, standard S and class A, were used. These foams are applicable as a carrier of oxidizers for decontamination, when their stability is adequately high. Some of these oxidizers need highly acidic solutions for better oxidizing. Foams were generated using tap water and solutions of pH = 1 and pH = 13. It has been proved that it is possible to produce stable foams applicable for decontamination purposes, when low and high pH values are results of addition of small quantity of strong acids and bases respectively.