AN OPTIMIZED CONTACT-FILTER CONVERTER FOR LONG TERM MONITORING OF CW-AGENTS

A SIMPLE CONTACT FILTER HAS BEEN DEVISED THAT WILL CONVERT G-TYPE CHEMICAL AGENTS TO HYDROGEN CYANIDE, WHICH CAN BE MEASURED BY A SENSITIVE AMPEROMETRIC DETECTOR. THE CONTACT FILTER SEPARATES THE CONVERSION AND DETECTION PROCESSES, ALLOWING EACH TO BE OPTIMIZED SEPARATELY. IN PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS, WE HAVE DETECTED 2.5 PPB (0.014 MG/M3) G-AGENT SIMULANT, WITHOUT SPECIAL EFFORTS TO OPTIMIZE THE FILTER. MUCH SCOPE REMAINS TO ACHIEVE GREATER SENSITIVITY FROM THE FILTER, AS WELL AS TO THOROUGHLY CHARACTERIZE ITS SELECTIVITY. WE WILL STUDY THE EFFECT OF VARYING PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND MANUFACTURING PARAMETERS ON FILTER PERFORMANCE, AND PRODUCE A SIMULATION MODEL OF ITS OPERATION. THIS WILL GIVE INSIGHT INTO THE MECHANISMS OF THE CONVERSION, AS WELL AS ALLOW US TO RAPIDLY ACHIEVE AN OPTIMUM DESIGN. WHEN COMBINED WITH AN ALREADY-EXISTING SELECTIVE MONITOR FOR THIOETHERS (H-AGENTS), THE G-AGENT DETECTOR WILL FORM THE NUCLEUS OF A LONG-TERM MONITORING SYSTEM FOR CHEMICAL AGENTS IN TREATY VERIFICATION, STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND STORAGE APPLICATIONS.