James Anderson, a senior researcher at the University of Maine, stands amid equipment that grinds sawdust into cellulose nanofibrils. Anderson discovered that the material mixed with water creates a new kind of firefighting material that is more effective and safer for the environment than PFAS-laden foams. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

A University of Maine researcher had a light bulb moment while watching news about wildfires raging through California in 2019. James Anderson saw clips of planes dumping out water to quench the flames, but wind kept blowing it away. At the time, Anderson was exploring the capabilities of sawdust that, when ground down to a microscopic level, turns into a watery goo. He realized the material — known as cellulose nanofiber or biogel — had all the right qualities to be an effective fire extinguisher.

What if the solution to fighting fires was using the same material that was burning?

Rich Fredericks, a research scientist at the University of Maine, uses a torch in an unsuccessful attempt to ignite wood that has been coated in a mixture of 99% water and 1% cellulose nanofibers. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

The cellulose nanofiber quickly put out flames, stuck to surfaces for a long time, was much better than water at preventing fires from reigniting and is completely natural – free of toxins or “forever chemicals” called PFAS that harm people and the environment. With an added cherry on top, the machinery needed to produce it already existed. Maine is the No. 1 global public supplier of the material.

Anderson brought that idea to the University of Maine’s Process Development Center, where a large warehouse is filled with equipment that makes the goo for different kinds of research and uses.

Dr. Colleen Walker, Director of the Process Development Center, recognized the ingenuity and endorsed the project as soon as Anderson brought it forward.

“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.”

Six years later, Anderson and other researchers at the center feel a renewed sense of urgency to get the biogel into the hands of firefighters. Ongoing wildfires continue to destroy southern California and firefighters, including 20 from Maine, are struggling to put out flames amid powerful winds and abnormally dry conditions.

In an ideal world, planes could be dumping the watery goo on the hills and houses of southern California right now. But there are two large obstacles standing in the way: the red tape of certification and the gobs of money needed to get it.

MULTIPURPOSE MASHED POTATOES 

The firefighting biogel is formed by crushing down sawdust until it’s unrecognizable. It becomes gooey like mashed potatoes, 97% water with 1% sawdust that bonds the water together. It’s heavy, so it can’t get blown away as easily in the wind. When you add more water, it can be sprayed. It sticks to surfaces for long periods of time, so it can also be used to prevent fires before they start. It’s difficult to catch on fire.

James Anderson, left, and Rich Fredericks, researchers at the University of Maine, use torches to ignite planks of wood during a demonstration. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

In person, it’s evident that the biogel is amazing at what it does.

Anderson and Rich Fredericks, a research scientist, put on a demonstration Tuesday morning at the Process Development Center in Orono. They gripped planks of wood and wielded propane torches. Anderson stood in front of a bucket of water, and Rich in front of a bucket of the goo.

The stick on the left was doused with water and quickly re-ignited when torched. The other stick, which was coated with 99% water and 1% cellulose nanofibers did not re-ignite. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

They lifted the torches to the planks and set them on fire. Then, they dunked one in each bucket. Both fires were put out immediately. But then Anderson and Fredericks began to set the planks on fire again. Within 30 seconds, Anderson’s watery plank was burning. Five minutes of torching later, there weren’t any flames on the plank covered with biogel. It had a few burn marks but was otherwise unharmed.

It takes an average 11 minutes of direct exposure to fire for something covered in biogel to go ablaze, according to the research.

WHAT MAKES THE BIOGEL DIFFERENT?

The biogel developed at UMaine is not the only fire suppressant more effective than water. Fluorinated firefighting foam became widely used after it was invented in the 1960s. It works quickly but is the most common source of forever chemical contamination in the U.S., according to the EPA.

Those fluorinated foams are a huge concern for the International Association of Fire Fighters, a labor union with members across the U.S. and Canada.

Cancer has become the leading cause of death among active firefighters.

“It’s not a coincidence that PFAS is associated with some of the most severe illnesses that firefighters acquire at rates higher than that of the general public,” said Neil McMillan, the director of science and research at the union.

Sticks of wood were dipped into jars of fire suppressants, including plain water, left, a mayonnaise-like mixture of 99% water and 1% cellulose nanofibers and a thicker mixture of 97% water and 3% cellulose nanofibers. The stick on the left dried quickly, while the other two retained the mixtures. Testing has determined that the middle mixture is ideal for firefighting because it can be more easily spread and cling better to materials. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

Some states and counties have been shifting away from using PFAS-laden extinguishing foams — and there are other options besides biogel. Maine banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of fire extinguishers with these synthetic chemicals — except for at federal airports like the Brunswick Executive Airport, where a spill in August dumped 1,450 gallons of concentrate containing PFAS mixed with 50,000 gallons of water.

But the U.S. still largely relies on these toxic firefighting foams.

The leading argument is that fluorinated foams are the only effective option to put out fires. McMillan says that’s simply untrue.

“Of course, we want to have efficacious products, but we will also want products that don’t result in an epidemic of cancer and other forms of illnesses within the fire service population,” McMillan said.

And, he added, firefighters with boots on the ground believe in the fluorine-free alternatives.

WHEN WILL WOOD FIGHT FIRES?

Anderson knows the path forward to put the biogel on the market, get it in portable fire extinguishers, on fire trucks and deployed from the back of planes.

The infrastructure needed to make the biogel already exists. The University of Maine has a huge facility where Anderson gets his materials. The cellulose nanofiber is also manufactured and used for medical research, food preservation and coatings. Anderson wants to fine-tune his research as much as possible, so that when the product is sent out for official tests to be used against fires, it can be certified quickly.

But the project hinges on funding.

Dr. Colleen Walker, director of the University of Maine’s Process Development Center, and James Anderson, a senior researcher who developed a way to fight fires using a Maine wood product. “It blew me out of the water,” Walker said of Anderson’s research. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

The Process Development Center received $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory in December to fund more research. But that won’t cover the testing for certifications necessary for it to be used in commercially sold fire extinguishers. That testing can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000.

Then, there’s an entirely separate process for getting wildfire approval. And the Process Development Center needs to conduct experiments that mimic wildfires so they only have to do the test once, which costs $150,000 and takes 18 months. Anderson anticipates the wildfire project could end up costing $500,000 from start to finish.

The PDC is making strides to acquire funding. Anderson will be attending a firefighting conference in the spring, where he hopes to get the word out with different organizations, government agencies, businesses and investors.

On Wednesday, the federal Department of Commerce announced that the University of Maine is getting about $11 million to commercialize and test ideas for new wood products. Some of that money will support the university’s biogel projects, according to Vice President Jake Ward, though it’s not yet clear how much will go toward Anderson’s research specifically.

Walker, the director at the Process Development Center, wishes that the material could be sent to California today.

“Sometimes, it’s really frustrating. I understand there’s checks and balances, yes, because we don’t want, like, the situation with PFAS,” Walker said. “But it’s trees. It’s wood and water. Why can’t we go and do this, and then if it lands on somebody, it’s OK?”

Anderson believes the discovery is harmless enough that it could be deployed now.

“If I was in California and I had some of this stuff I sprayed all over my house, and it could just sit there constantly … it would probably last hours or days,” Anderson said. “You spray it on, and it’ll sit on top of your house like Ghostbusters guys have been through, and if an ember lands on the house (it’s safe).”

Even so, Anderson is committed to following all the necessary steps, however long it takes.