KebFire; combined long term protection against fire and fungal attack in a single step process

In the KebFire project, Kebony has developed a fire-retardant treatment. The fire-retardant property is added to the decay resistant Kebony materials. The project has demonstrated good efficiency of reducing fire properties. Remaining work will be certification and commercialization. Most Norwegian houses are constructed of timber. Wooden houses are low in price, have a short building period and are produced from a sustainable, renewable material containing sequestered atmospheric carbon dioxide. Wooden beams give good stability in a fire. Houses with wooden claddings are more susceptible to fire risk. The fire protective chemicals are generally water-soluble compounds. Thus, when exposed to high humidity, the fire protecting chemicals may migrate in the wood towards the surface and may ultimately be leached out. These products need a surface treatment that will need maintenance intervals. Kebony is the only company in the world that offers furfurylated wooden products. It is important to Kebony to be able to offer cost effective products of high quality. Kebonys products as of today, hold the same fire protective class as untreated wood. Kebony want to change this by producing a product with improved fire protecting properties. To be able to make this a cost-effective product, Kebony needs to produce KebFire in a one-step impregnation. Two strategies have been evaluated; blending a fire-retardant chemical into the furfurylation process and develop a polymerizable new fire retardant that co-polymerize with the furfurylation process. Kebony has in the project successfully developed a fire-retardant co-polymer. This represent a unique, new formulations with great potential. Initial full-scale testing reveals very good results. It remains to be tested long term performance. The KebFire product will undergo a series of standardized test to obtain a Euroclass certification, and production for the marked.

The majority of Norwegian houses are of timber construction. Building houses with wood is a brilliant solution, as wooden houses are low in price, have a short building period and are produced from a sustainable, renewable material containing sequestered atmospheric carbon dioxide. Larger untreated wooden beams give good stability in a fire. Smaller houses with wooden claddings on the other hand are more susceptible to fire risk. The fire protective chemicals are generally water-soluble compounds based on phosphorous and/or boron containing compounds or mixtures of compounds. Thus, when exposed to high humidity, the fire protecting chemicals may migrate in the wood towards the surface and may ultimately be leached out. These products need a surface treatment that will need maintenance intervals. Kebony AS is the only company in the world that offers furfurylated wooden products. It is important to Kebony to be able to offer cost effective products of high quality. Kebonys products as of today only hold the same fire protective class as untreated wood. Kebony want to change this by producing a product that has a good fire protecting property with the good properties of a Kebony product. To be able to make this a cost effective product, Kebony needs to produce KebFire in a one-step impregnation. To achieve this, the chemistry and process needs to be compatible with the fire retardant and the process conditions for these agents. After developing a stable KebFire solution it will be tested for good impregnability and make sure that there is no interference from the fire retardant to the curing process. Subsequently, the product will be tested for anti-fire efficiency and tested to verify that the well-known Kebony properties have not been altered through an addition of a fire retardant. If the test shows positive results, the KebFire product will undergo a series of standardized test to obtain a Euroclass certification, and will be made ready for the marked.