LithiumSafe, a company established in 2017 in the Netherlands, is offering a solution to lithium-ion battery fires aboard aircraft. The company is exhibiting at the 2025 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) at the Hamburg Messe in Hamburg, Germany.
There is an increasing number of portable electronic devices carried onboard passenger flights. On average, every passenger carries between three and four devices with a lithium battery.
“Those lithium batteries get more powerful because we all want a battery that never runs out. Packing more energy into those cells increases risk,” says Mats Fortuin, Technical Director at LithiumSafe.
“Those batteries are generally very safe but there’s still a chance that, due to several external factors, a battery can start to overheat and could eventually trigger a thermal runaway reaction, which is when a one of the cells in the pack overheats, ignites, explodes, and triggers a thermal event in the other cells of the pack,” he explains.
Extinguishing lithium battery fires onboard an aircraft is complicated by the fact they are chemical fires, meaning they are difficult to extinguish using a fire extinguisher, cooling agents or water, and they generate oxygen.
“If you pour a cooling agent over a battery fire, it could accelerate the fire,” warns Fortuin.
“In our opinion, the safest way is to contain the battery in a high-temperature- and fireproof-resistant containment product and let it run burn out – until it’s out of its fuel, its energy,” he adds.
The company produces a fire containment bag, which is available in two standard sizes. One accommodates a 17-inch laptop and there is a smaller-sized bag for tablets. They are supplied with a pair of gloves that protect the forearm and are resistant to heat of up to 1000°C.
“Our latest innovation is the smoke containment sleeve, which is an add-on to the kit,” says Fortuin. “The smoke containment bag is to eliminate the release of toxic smoke and gases coming from a battery fire in the cabin.”
This year LithiumSafe was certified by UL Solutions, which has published the first official worldwide standards for fire containment. The LithiumSafe products on display at AIX comply with the UL 5800 standard.
LithiumSafe first exhibited at 2022 and has subsequently worked to enhance its products and is returning this year to introduce the smoke containment sleeve. Its products are currently flying on several airlines, including those of Lufthansa Group, Air France and TUI.
