Preface

Flame retardants are currently used in a wide range of industrial sectors for saving human lives and properties by mitigating fire hazards of flammable goods. The growing fire safety requirements for materials boost an escalating demand for the consumption of fire retardants. The global flame retardant market size was valued to be USD 7.46 billion in 2020 and is reported to grow up to 12.99 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8%. However, currently halogen flame retardants are still being used in some fields despite their potential environmental and health concerns because of their low cost, high efficiency and good interfacial compatibility with many polymer matrices. This has catalysed both industry and academia to develop sustainable, green fire retardants.

The last decades have witnessed encouraging advances in green biomass-/nature-derived flame retardants and their green synthesis. In addition, great efforts have been made to evaluate the impacts of existing fire retardants on the environment and human health. Unfortunately, so far there is only one relevant book on this topic but it is limited to biobased fire retardants (published in 2018). Therefore, there is a great need for a comprehensive book that can reflect the state-of-the-art advances in green fire retardants for polymeric materials in the last decade.

This book aims to summarise the recent advances in the development of green fire retardants, green synthesis of environmentally benign fire retardants and the challenges associated with them. Overall, this book can be split into three major parts: (I) green fire retardants, (II) green synthesis of fire retardants and (III) applications and safety assessment of green fire retardants. Green fire retardants, herein, refer to the fire retardants that are derived from raw materials from biomass (or plant) to animal products and natural substances, and this topic constitutes Part I. Part II includes green synthesis of fire retardants including green synthesis of organic and inorganic fire retardants and organic–inorganic hybrid fire retardants. In addition, Part III of this book highlights the applications of green fire retardants in some typical polymer matrices (polypropylene, polylactide and epoxy resin) and the safety assessment of fire retardants no matter whether they are halogenated or non-halogenated fire retardants.

This book on green fire retardants is anticipated to have a very broad readership from academics in universities and research institutes who are working on fire retardants and fire-retardant materials, to engineers in industry who are developing effective fire retardants for their products and to students majoring in Safety Engineering and others. This book will help promote the development of green fire retardants and sustainable fire-retardant materials, further the awareness of sustainable development through advancing green fire retardants, and expedite the next generation of efficient yet green fire retardants and their products while promoting the creation of a sustainable future.

Pingan Song