AIRBORNE CBW AGENT DECONTAMINATION TECHNOLOGY

Decontamination is a process through which dangerous chemicals and microorganisms, including vegetative cells, spores and viruses, are rendered harmless. Conventional technologies such as new-generation of HEPA filters provide reasonable protection for a certain amount of time. However, HEPA filters are expensive and require the use of pre-filters to limit their rate of loading, moreover, they dissipate large amounts of power from the ventilation air stream. We propose to develop a new technology for decontamination of air streams through simultaneous injection and generation of strong oxidative free radicals. These free radicals, which have an average lifetime of less than a second, are effective in neutralizing chemical and biological agents upon contact and dissipate not leaving any residue. The strong air/gas stream containing free radicals produced in a non-thermal plasma source will be able to penetrate efficiently the contaminated air stream due to vibrant turbulence caused by the injection stream. Non-thermal plasma technologies are currently under investigation for their ability to decompose biological and chemical agents. Plasma chemical processes have been known to be highly effective in promoting oxidation, enhancing molecular dissociation, and producing free radicals to enhance chemical reactions. Plasma techniques such as the pulsed microwave discharge proposed here, offer advantages of energy efficiency and the capability for the simultaneous removal of co-existing CBW agents.