The Development of a Test System for the Evaluation of Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Membranes

The US Army has developed a trailer-mounted reverse osmosis water purification unit ROPU which effectively treats brackish water, sea water, and chemically contaminated freshwater. The treatment processes consist of high rate filtration followed by the reverse osmosis system. Under the present concept there will be two units one will produce 600 gallons per hour and the other 3, 000 gallons per hour of potable water. The use of simulants for chemical warfare agents and the search for better simulants have greatly escalated because of the ban on open-air testing of agents. DIMP and DMMP were chosen as possible simulants for acetyl choline esterase inhibitors for testing reverse osmosis membranes. The system developed for the extraction and analysis of DIMP was sensitive enough to permit assay down to the 0.02 mgl range presently established by the Surgeon General for acetyl choline esterase inhibitors. The extraction, elution, assay steps provide a method that may be adapted to other simulants and lower levels of detection. DIMP was stable in acetone for at least 20 dyas and allows for a flexible sample processing schedule. DIMP was stable in water and will require special consideration for development of membrane test protocols.