Production of Chemical Reagents for Prompt-Agent-Defeat Weapons

The US DoD requires robust ways of neutralizing threats posed by hostile powers and terrorist organizations that may be in possession of dangerous weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Unfortunately, the weapons currently available to the DoD do not offer a way for the WMD to be destroyed without risking the spread of that material throughout the area. The strategy for the defeat of biological weapons is to use a nanoenergetic formulation (e.g. thermite) that produces high heat in conjunction with a biocide to destroy residual biological agent in the plume. Recent research into HI3O8 has created interest in the material as one that could be formulated to defeat biological weapons. HI3O8 is not commercially available, and its preparation has been a bottleneck for the development of this material into an ordinance item for WMD defeat. For this material to be successfully incorporated into a weapon system, a process must be developed which provides very consistent composition of product and particle size. The main objective of this effort is to develop a cost-beneficial manufacturing processes for producing kilogram quantities of HI3O8 with high purity and small particle size, as well as identify quality assurance measures for its handling and storage.