Why is yoghurt the best extinguishing agent when your tongue is on fire with chili peppers? That was the question that Swedish inventor Mats Nilsson asked himself when he was looking for a healthy alternative for flame retardants. For decades, these chemicals have been added to many consumer products to protect people from fire and minimize damage as much as possible.
Of course, we do not want the cushions of our sofas, the mattresses of our beds, our curtains, our airline seats or the toys of our children to easily catch fire. But that understandable concern has created a new problem: Massive numbers of chemical cocktails have been and are still being released into the environment. The annual value of the global flame-retardants market alone is 7 billion dollars and grows with 7 percent per year.
There are chemicals in the air we breathe, in the dust on the floor, and in the water we drink. Toxic flame-retardants can be found in human breast milk and in fish. Research shows that the quantities are dramatically increasing. According to some reports the concentrations of the toxins are doubling every two to five years. A growing body of evidence shows that many of these chemicals are associated with serious adverse health effects in humans. They can impact sexual function and fertility as well as neurologic function. They can cause cancer. Bromine compounds from polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—the main flame retardant category—in the blood and tissue of children are being associated with permanent brain damage and movement dysfunctions.
There is also the risk that our bodies mistake chemicals as hormones. The structure of the pentabromodiphenylether molecule resembles the structure of the thyroid hormone tyroxine. When pentabromo-diphenyl ether was forbidden some years ago, clever chemists replaced penta (5) with deca (10) to create decabromodiphenyl ether. However, when that molecule decomposes, it releases a similar toxic bromine gas.
It is not for lack of an alternative. Nature has been containing fire for millennia. In nature, the exchange between heat and energy is managed through the balance between acidity and alkalinity measured in the pH value. That is why you want to ‘cool’ your mouth with yoghurt after eating a chili pepper.
Mats Nilsson learned how to manage fires as a child. His grandfather was a welder at a shipyard. He always had to be careful that he did not burn his shirt while he was working. Grandfather used to drink apple cider during his lunch breaks. He noticed that, when he spilled the cider on his shirt and let it dry, that spot would never get burn marks. Mats’ grandfather began experimenting with extinguishing fires and involved his grandchildren in his investigations. Mats learned to put out fires shaking a Coca-Cola can and spraying the gas—carbon dioxide—on the fire. The experiment taught him the basics of a modern fire extinguisher that takes away the oxygen and removes the heat of a fire through spraying carbon dioxide on it.
His childhood experiences with his grandfather inspired Nilsson to get his fireman license while he was studying at university. He worked as a fireman for two years before he moved on to a career as product developer. Years later, a thermal energy company asked him to develop a safe, toxic-free, and eco-friendly alternative for existing flame-retardants. Nilsson, who had studied mathematics, physics, chemistry and electronics, and remembered his grandfather’s fire lessons, began researching citrus fruit. He knew that lemons have the same cooling effect as yoghurt and stomach acid. He also knew that people have been eating lemons forever without negative side-effects. Working with natural acids that people have been used to for thousands of years, seemed a much better idea than gambling with synthetic chemicals.
Nilsson experimented and developed a product. However, the invention ended up on a shelf. That is where it was in 2003 when Nilsson’s wife was looking for an original entry for a Swedish competition for environmentally friendly products. The Molecular Heat Eater made it to the finals. More praise followed and that led to participation in the BBC World Challenge, a competition for ideas that “really make a difference for the world”. To his surprise, Nilsson also reached the finals of that competition. From there, it went fast. Nilsson refined and completed the product and filed for a patent.
The Molecular Heat Eater comes in a powder, a liquid and a gel. The exact formulation is a trade secret, but Nilsson is clear that his product is basically a mix of citrus fruits, grapes, flour and cellulose. The mixture of alkaline bases and acids, that the human body can easily handle, absorbs the thermal energy, extinguishes the flames and cools the burning material. Nilsson’s invention is, in scientific terms, a combination of carboxylic acids and inorganic alkalis that produces a sustainable salt that does not begin to decompose uncontrollably.
The Molecular Heat Eater is used to treat synthetic materials like plastics. Nilsson has since also developed another flame-retardant product, Bio-Eco, that is used to treat natural fiber materials. This product is very successful in preventing and containing forest fires without polluting the environment with chemicals. It can also be sprayed on buildings to protect them from fires. In tests, Nilson’s natural flame retardants perform as well—if not better—than conventional toxic chemical products.
The best news is that Nilsson’s healthy alternative flame retardants are cheaper than the toxic chemical cocktails that pollute the environment and endanger public health because they can be made from the waste of plants. Moreover, according to Nilsson, existing chemical flame retardant production facilities can be adjusted to new natural substances for a one-time investment of only thousands of dollars. Finally, the use of plant waste also means that a natural flame retardant industry will contribute to reducing carbon emissions.
Despite these clear benefits and advantages, Nilsson’s products are not yet sold on a large scale. Why not? “The flame retardant market is in the hands of a few large corporations that together form an oligopoly and are in no way open to change”, says Nilsson. They also claim that their products are not harmful. It does not help that health regulations are set by parliaments that have very few members with a scientific background in chemistry. These representatives of the people are easy targets for lobby groups of industries.
Nilsson stands ready to share his inventions with any company who wants to produce them, ideally in local production facilities close to the waste materials. As global warming seems to lead to an increase in fires in nature around the world, the awareness about opportunities for natural flame retardants and fire protection should grow. And humans may ultimately learn that nature has the best and most healthy answers for almost every challenge. [JK]
More information: www.trulstech.com
