ABSTRACT
Environmental concerns have led to renewed research interest in chemical fire suppression. Brominated compounds have been used as fire suppres sants for several decades; commonly these are termed “halons.” This name generically refers to any halogenated hydrocarbon compound [1,2], but in fire protection and environmental legislation has come to refer spe cifically to brominated fluorocarbons, most commonly CF3Br (Halon 1301), CF2ClBr (Halon 1211), and CF2Br-CF2Br (Halon 2402) [3]. The bromine atoms in halons play a similar role as the chlorine atoms in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in catalytic destruction of stratospheric ozone. Although halons have been released into the earth’s atmosphere in far smaller amounts than CFCs, the ozone depletion potential of C F3Br is some ten times that of CFC13 (CFC-11) and CF2C12 (CFC-12) on a molar basis [3]. For these reasons, the production of halons has been banned, along with that of CFCs, in developed countries since the end of 1993, following the Copenhagen Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Currently (2001) the ban is scheduled to take effect in all countries by 2005. Since fire protection is still a pressing concern, the ban on manufacture of halons has spurred research and development efforts to identify and implement effective and environmentally acceptable fire suppression technologies for a variety of applications [2,4].
