Water and carbon dioxide and…nothing else, OH MY!

Purple Grapes, Vineyard, Napa Valley, Napa Vineyard
Photo source: MaxPixel

Brzzzzt! You know that sound effect of taking the needle off the record player? I’m pretty sure if you were in the room you would have heard that sound actually come out of my ears the other day. I’ve written about the biomimicry-inspired flame retardant MHE® before, but there was something that hadn’t fully registered in my brain before a couple weeks ago – MHE® is designed such that during a fire, the ONLY gases to escape from BOTH the host material and the flame retardant are water vapor and carbon dioxide. What?? Mind blown.

If you know anything about flame retardants, you might know that the gases released during a fire from the flame retardants (let alone the host materials) can be more toxic than the flame retardant themselves (which is saying something). When breaking down under the heat of a fire, conventional flame retardants, such as organohalogen and organophosophorus flame retardants, can release gases like dioxins which are incredibly toxic, threatening the health of the inhabitants as well as firefighters. So to have a flame retardant that not only itself is non-toxic (made from chemicals derived from food no less!), but also reacts with the host material’s gases so that the only gases emitted during combustion are water and carbon dioxide is nothing less than incredible. Talk about life-friendly chemistry!

With the terrible fires in northern California the last couple weeks – in wine country where the waste product from the winemaking process provides a perfect raw material for the manufacture of MHE® (I’m loving the circular economy potential here), and with flame retardants that may cause environmental health risks when dropped on forest all across the western United States, I can’t help but think the time is right to bring this technology to the U.S.

Trulstech is looking to bring MHE® to the United States market – they need a buyer for their patents in North America and the products are shelf-ready. Know of any interested parties?? I’d like to see MHE® completely disrupt the flame retardant industry for the sake of my health, your health, our children’s health, and the health of all life on this planet, wouldn’t you? Can you help? If so, email me at the link on the bottom of this page!

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