New Innovation: Maine company makes innovative products to prevent and contain lithium fires

Lithium ion batteries are in most every electronic device you own, like a rechargeable game controller, smartphones, electric vehicles, tablets, laptops, and smartwatches all have them.   Lithium batteries that spark fires can't usually be extinquished by water, as they tend to burn at 2,000 Fahrenheit! Today's blog is about a company in Maine who found a way to contain those searing fires, and will show you a lithium battery fire (video). 

 

Maine company makes innovative products to prevent and contain lithium fires 

CellBlock Fire Containment is changing the way these dangerous fires are handled

WMTW TV Dec 7, 2023 

 STANDISH, Maine — A company in Standish is helping the world be better prepared to handle the extremely dangerous fires that lithium-ion batteries can cause.

A wide range of customers, including fire departments, airlines, emergency management and shipping companies, are now using products made by CellBlock Fire Containment Systems.

(Photo: Laptop lithium battery fire)

"It's not just about fire suppression; it's fire containment, anything to do with a battery CellBlockEx specializes in," said Matthew Vandemark, founder of CellBlock Fire Containment.

The company's pioneering technology has helped revolutionize the response to lithium battery fires, allowing the battery to be put into a case without setting yourself on fire.

The company manufactures about two dozen products at its headquarters in Standish, Maine - products that both extinguish and prevent fires from spreading.

The primary factor is a mineral suppressant called CellBlockEx. It is a non-toxic product made mostly from recycled glass that is fabricated into each of the company's products. The product line includes carriers for laptop computers and phones, emergency response kits all the way to large heavy-duty containers for shipping multiple car batteries.

"The sky's the limit, if you have to put a battery in it, no matter how big, no matter what the size, what the energy density, we can design and create a product that can ship it and contain it safely," said Vandemark.

Sanford Assistant Fire Chief Bob Arnold said that with so many lithium batteries now inside homes, a bucket of CellBlockEx is now standard equipment for dozens of departments across the country.

Lithium fires burn at an extremely high temperature - potentially reaching 2,000 degrees in a matter of seconds - meaning water along can rarely put them out. In fact, trying to put one out with water can cause a hydrogen gas explosion.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/8nz5ijXcckI?si=yCq26-8UVL1I9cjQ

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"It's extremely important in the sense that technology of the fires has advanced so this product allows us to catch up and stay in pace with it," said Arnold.

Vandemark explained why their products are so important: "The electrification of the world is a major, major undertaking, right? Going from fossil fuels to electric cars, electric everything, it's a battery world," he said. With fires on airplanes and cargo ships, even cell phones exploding in pockets, the company says designing safeguards against the hazards of a battery world is a challenge.

"Every day we get a call about some situation that needs to be addressed because people are transferring to the use of battery power," said Vandemark. "It's expanding daily and we are fighting hard to try to keep up with it, it's actually staggering."