PFAS-free Firefighting Biogel featured in Press Herald
The Portland Press Herald featured University of Maine researchers who are developing Firefighting Biogel, an alternative to traditional firefighting foam that’s free from a group of chemicals known as PFAS. The gel is expected to be both safer for the environment and for those fighting fires. James Anderson, an engineer at UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, is leading the project in collaboration with UMaine research scientist Rich Fredericks and Colleen Walker, director of the Process Development Center. “I can’t talk about it enough. It blew me out of the water,” Walker said. “Wherever there’s trees, which in Maine is everywhere, you could put very simple pieces of equipment and a tank and some pumps, and off you go to make it.”