Decontamination Efficacy of Candidate Nanocrystalline Sorbents with Comparison to SDS A-200 Sorbent: Reactivity and Chemical Agent Resistant Coating Panel Testing

Several nanocrystalline reactive sorbents, of varied particle size and surface area, were examined as decontaminating sorbents. The reaction kinetics of VX. GD, and HD were determined in addition to efficacy for surface decontamination of Chemical Agent Resistant Coating CARC paint. The Sorbent Decon System SDS A-200 sorbent was utilized as a control. The best sorbent for VX was nTi02, which enabled a half-life of 2 min. Comparable half-lives for GD tens-of minutes were observed on nTi02, nMgO, and the commercial FAST-ACT sorbent. Half-lives of a few to many hours were observed for HD on nAlOt, nTiO, FAST-ACT, and A-200. but only with sufficient surface hydration. Regarding reactivity only, A-200 did not perform as well as the nanocrystalline sorbents, especially for VX and GD. However, all of the sorbents. A-200 included, provided for the comparable removal of HD and GD from CARC panels, ca. 75 and 87, respectively. An apparent surface-porosity of 0.8 ccm for the CARC paint is presumed responsible for this low efficacy. Smaller sorbent particle sizes 5 uM did not increase surface decontamination efficacy.