Portable System for Immediate Decon of Interior Spaces

The United States Government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing decontamination capabilities to protect our military personnel and equipment from chemical warfare agents. With over 20 countries now having the capability to manufacture and use biological warfare agents, and the reality of the events involving the use of Anthrax on US soil after September 11, 2001, decontamination capability for biological agents has become a reality for military as well as civilian needs. Under the current SBIR solicitation, the DoD is interested in the development of novel decontaminating materials and methods to support rapid decontamination of interior spaces contaminated with chemical and biological agents. The proposed system should be portable, lightweight, self-powered and easy to use so it can be readily transported. The intended use of the portable system is to support (operational) decontamination procedures in the field so US forces can operate in treated spaces with a minimum level of protective equipment. METSS proposes to address this need through the development of a novel decontaminating system that can be applied using a conventional pressurized sprayer and/or fire extinguisher without requiring post-decontamination cleanup operations. The proposed approach will build upon recent advances in chemical and biological decontamination chemistries yet rely on familiar delivery methods that have been used for years to apply liquids and extinguish fires by both trained and untrained individuals.