Formulation and Production of Biological Agent Spectroscopic Simulant Particles

Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) proposes to demonstrate environmentally benign, low cost biological agent simulant particles that mimic the infrared, scatter, fluorescence and atomic absorption spectra of bacillus subtilis (BG), Erwinia herbicola (EH), and the MS2 Bacteriophage (MS2). These stimulant particles will be composed of materials that are commonly available foods or nutritional supplements. Spray drying will be used to mass produce the desired particle size and size distribution to match the agent size and its Mie scattering properties. An aerosol of BG simulant particles will be characterized using Infrared spectroscopy at PSI and using UV Laser Induced Fluorescence at the University of South Florida in the Laser Remote Sensing lab of Prof. Dennis Killinger. We will perform engineering design scale-up calculations to demonstrate a path to multi-Kg production quantities expected during a Phase II program.