Name: Lee Fook Ming Matrix no: AA100045 IC no: 901105065053

Pyrogen
Halon or halomethane is a very effective fire extinguishing agent. However, it was banned when found out that halon destroys the ozone. Halon production ended in 1994 and the search for another fire extinguishing agent started. Many replacements are evaluated but compared to the Halon, the disadvantages are as follows: Low toxicity Cleanliness and volatility Efficiency on extinguishing fires.

One of the fire extinguishing agents which is like the halon are called pyrogen. Pyrogen is an aerosol based fire extinguishing agent which is effective against most fire types, Class A, B, C, E and F except for Class D, metal fires. The pyrogen is activated and extinguishes fire when an electric current is applied to the electric activation device or the device is exposed to temperature above 175C. Once triggered, it will produce very small sized dry chemical particles and gases. Chemical particles consist of potassium carbonate while the gases are a mixture of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapour. When the two agents (chemical particle and gas) mix together, it will form an aerosol, the extinguishing agent. Before the aerosol is released into an area, the aerosol propels through a solid chemical element which lowers the surrounding temperature by absorbing heat while decomposing. This system is highly efficient because this design requires no pressure cylinders and piping as the aerosol is selfgenerated and the chemical reaction itself will provide sufficient driving force to propel the aerosol into the fire. All this are from one small non-pressurized canister which is called MAG generators. The aerosols nature also makes cleaning easier. Suspended aerosol in the air will easily be blown by airflow. Aerosol which has settled on surface can be brushed away easily.

The chemical reactions in the MAG generators are as follows KNO3(s) +CnHmNpOq(s) + C(s) = KHCO3(s)+ K2CO3(s) +CO2(g) +N2(g) +H2O(g) First the oxidizer is a solid potassium nitrate (KNO3(s)), the combustible binder is a solid plasticised nitro-cellulose(CnHmNpOq(s)) and some carbon (C(s)) as an activator of the oxidisers decomposition. Once the pyrogen is activated, the all these three solid components will combust and produce fire extinguishing agents. The products are potassium carbonates (KHCO3, K2CO3, carbon dioxide gas (CO2 (g)), nitrogen gas ( N2 (g) ) and water vapour (H2O(g)). As the reaction temperatures are high, potassium carbonates are formed as gas, but as the vapour cools, the potassium carbonates condense to a liquid and then freeze into a solid which is very small (around 1-10 micrometer) Micron sized solid particles mix with the gaseous carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water into an aerosol. Being a combustion product, the aerosol is hot upon formation although being hot will bring negative effect on the extinguishing process. To counter this, a chemical coolant is also included in the MAG generator. When the hot Pyrogen aerosol passes through the cooling element, the coolant decomposes absorbing heat. The coolant is a polymer composition which composes of endothermic ingredients substances that decompose at 200-300 C without melting, generate gases and absorb approximately 400 Cal of heat per one kilogram of their mass. The pyrogen is more convenient than other fire extinguishing products like the CO2 extinguisher. It has very small size, easy to install, saves money and effective against most fire types. Once used, the used MAG cartridge can be replaced without extracting the foundation.

Reference http://www.firesol.gr/pdf/EXEIRIDIO_EFARMOGHS_PYROGEN-EPA%20APPROVED.pdf http://www.nist.gov/el/fire_research/upload/R0000245.pdf http://www.pyrogen.com/minning.pdf