Favuseal - Fire Protection Systems

The use of composite materials has opened the way for new and improved technical solutions in many industries, but the need for fire protection of such materials is considerable, especially in the offshore industry. We introduced the Favuseal Fire Barrier System (FFBS) in 1988 for the protection of Glassfiber Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) piping in the offshore industry, and to date numerous oil installations all over the world are fire protected by FFBS.

FAVUSEAL® FIRE BARRIER SYSTEM (FFBS)

The Favuseal® Fire Barrier System (FFBS) is based on Favuseal technology which has been stress-tested and approved by leading petroleum companies and laboratories, such as SINTEF in Norway. The Favuseal material also complies to the DNV (Det Norske Veritas) standard DNV-OS-D301. Favuseal technology can be adapted to be used for fire protection of other materials than GRE-pipes. Please enquire for further information.

FFBS ON GLASSFIBER REINFORCED EPOXY (GRE) PIPES

The FFBS is a composite system consisting in principle of the following layers:

• An inner layer of combimat
• One or more layers of Favuseal
• An external sheet of fiberglass tape and epoxy coating. The glassfiber tape must be of an open mesh construction with a ratio of holes to total area greater than 75%

When exposed to fire loading, the external epoxy coating burns off and exposes the glassfiber tape and the Favuseal material. The latter immediately starts to foam and swell expanding through the holes in the fiberglass tape. This provides the required protection against sagging of the Favuseal layer during the interim period when the material is soft.

JETFIRE RESISTANT TESTED MATERIAL

Favuseal has been tested on numerous occaisions by leading operators with success. Favuseal has been tested in the worst fire conditions, including jetfire.

When subjected to heat, for example in a fire, two phase transitions take place. The first phase takes place between 200ºC and 250ºC and the second between 700ºC and 800ºC. At the first phase transition, crystal water is generated from the (O-H) groups in the fillers. The water evaporates and the reaction is strongly endothermic (heat absorbing). The temperature behind the barrier of Favuseal cannot exceed 250ºC -300ºC as long as this reaction takes place.

The second phase transition is the oxidation of the minerals of the fillers resulting in the formation of cellular ceramic material. This reaction is also endothermic, although to a lesser extent. The thermal conductivity of this cellular ceramic is however very low, 0.07w/mºK. The ceramic is stable to temperatures up to 1,500ºC.