Miniature, Handheld Chemical Warfare Material Detection System for Treaty Verification Using Gas Chromatography/Ion Mobility Spectrometry

ACCURATE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS AT POTENTIAL SITES OF CHEMICAL WARFARE (CW) AGENT MANUFACTURE, STORAGE OR USE IS OF GREAT VALUE FOR DETERMINATION OF CW TREATY VIOLATIONS AND FOR VERIFICATION OF DESTRUCTION OR REMOVAL OF CW AGENT SYSTEMS. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HAND- HELD GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY/ION MOBILITY SPECTROMETRY (GC/IMS) FOR DIRECT AIR MONITORING HAVE ILLUSTRATED THE POTENTIAL OF THIS TECHNIQUE FOR RAPID (<1 MIN), SENSITIVE (<.0006 MG/M3 USING CW SIMULANT MATERIALS), ANALYSES OF CW AGENTS. THE PROPOSED WORK SEEKS PRODUCE A SYSTEM CAPABLE OF RAPID DETECTION, IDENTIFICATION AND MONITORING OF A BROAD RANGE OF CW AGENTS, PRECURSOR CHEMICALS, DECOMPOSITION PRODUCTS AND INCINERATION BY-PRODUCTS AT THE LEVELS REQUIRED FOR TREATY VERIFICATION, STOCKPILE SURVEILLANCE AND DEMILITARIZATION. THIS TECHNICAL APPROACH COMBINES A NOVEL AIR SAMPLING INLET WITH A SHORT CAPILLARY GC COLUMN AND A CIVILIAM VERSION OF THE SUCCESSFUL CAM (CHEMICAL AGENT MONITOR) TYPE INS DEVICE. IN VIEW OF ITS GREATLY INCREASED SPECIFICITY, DYNAMIC RANGE AND LINEARITY, GC/IMS REPRESENTS A QUANTUM LEAP IN PERFORMANCE OVER INS SYSTEMS WHILE PRESERVING HAND-PORTABILITY, SIMPLICITY, RUGGEDNESS AND MAINTAINABILITY AS WELL AS HIGH SENSITIVITY. GC/IMS OFFERS THE ONLY COMBINED CHROMATOGRAPHY/SPECTROSCOPY APPROACH WHICH CAN BE READILY INCORPORATED INTO A HAND-PORTABLE DEVICE. PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE TO: (I) COMPILE LITERATURE DATA ON CW AGENT PRECURSORS, DECOMPOSITION PRODUCTS AND INCINERATION BY-PRODUCTS; (2) CARRY OUT FEASIBILITY TESTS ON REPRESENTATIVE CHEMICALS; (3) INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF SURFACE CONTAMINATION DETECTION; (4) DEVELOP SPECIFICATIONS FOR PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS TO BE DEVELOPED UNDER PHASE II.