Large Scale Tests of Vaporous Hydrogen Peroxide (VHP(Register Trademark)) for Chemical and Biological Weapons Decontamination
Abstract
Vaporous Hydrogen Peroxide (VHP) has been used for more than a decade to sterilize clean rooms and pharmaceutical processing equipment and, more recently, to decontaminate anthraxcontaminated buildings. Recent studies at ECBC have shown that the addition of low-levels of ammonia gas renders VHP reactive towards GD, converting it to pinacolyl methylphosphonic acid. Thus, with suitable activation via ammonia gas, modified vaporous hydrogen peroxide (mVHP) affords the broad-spectrum decontamination of the chemical weapon (CW) agents VX, GD, and HD.* Studies at ECBC have also shown that mVHP is effective in decontamination of biological weapon (BW) surrogates, though mVHP does not at present appear to be substantially superior to standard VHP for biological decontamination. Potential applications of mVHP for military and civilian decontamination include: buildings, vehicle and aircraft interiors, and sensitive equipment. Recent large scale tests of mVHP applicability for BW and CW decontamination were carried out in one of the ECBC Engineering Chambers, Building E3726. The study evaluated the use of mVHP to decontaminate BW agent surrogates and live CW agents on representative aircraft interior materials. These studies showed that at treatment levels of 250 ppm VHP and treatment times of 24 hours, residual contact hazard from chemical agents was reduced to the ORD required levels on all test materials, with the exception of decontamination of VX run at relatively low ammonia concentrations. These studies also showed that at treatment levels of 250 ppm VHP and treatment times of 24 hours, off-gas hazard from chemical agents was reduced to the ORD required levels for all test materials, with the exception of VX run at relatively low ammonia concentrations. The effect of ammonia concentration on BW and CW decontamination efficacy is currently under study.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 17, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA449461
Entities
People
- Abe Turetsky
- Brian Maclver
- David Sorrick
- Diane Dutt
- George Wagner
- Jerry Pfarr
- Larry Procell
- Mark Brickhouse
Organizations
- Edgewood Chemical Biological Center