Decontamination of chemical warfare agent simulants using vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

Vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide(VPHP) has been used as a sterilant in the field of medical and pharmaceutical application due to low corrosive than chlorine contained sterilant. In addition, it is well known that VPHP is effective for decontamination of chemical warfare agents by adding ammonia gas. In this study, the decontamination efficiency was confirmed about CEPS, DFP and dimethoate as simulants of HD, GD and VX using VPHP respectively. For this purpose, VPHP generated from self configured device was injected into decontamination chamber and maintained for reaction time. After the decontamination, the residues are analyzed by GC/MS and decontamination efficiency was calculated. Through by-product for each simulants, the similarities in reaction mechanism of chemical warfare agents were confirmed. CEPS was completely decontaminated at 30% relative humidity within 60 min. By adding ammonia gas, DFP and dimethoate were completely decontaminated within 30 and 150 min respectively.