VERSAR PROPOSES TO EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CLAYS SUSPENDED IN LIQUID MEDIA TO REMOVE ORGANOPHOSPHORUS POISON, MUSTARD, PROTEINACEOUS MATERIAL, AND POLYNUCLEOTIDES FROM CONTAMINATED OBJECTS.

VERSAR PROPOSES TO EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CLAYS SUSPENDED IN LIQUID MEDIA TO REMOVE ORGANOPHOSPHORUS POISON, MUSTARD, PROTEINACEOUS MATERIAL, AND POLYNUCLEOTIDES FROM CONTAMINATED OBJECTS. THIS EFFECTIVENESS WILL BE EVALUATED BY MEASURING AND COMPARING THE COMPONENTS OF THE PARTITIONING/SORPTIVE PROCESS THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REMOVAL OF THE AGENTS. PHASE I EXPERIMENTS WILL TEST: (A) SORPTION OF CHEMICAL/BIOOLOGICAL AGENTS FROM LIQUID MEDIUM BY SORBENT, (B) SORPTION OF CHEMICAL AGENT BY PER MEABLE SURFACE MATERIAL IN THE PRESENCE OF LIQUID MEDIUM, AND (C) RETENTION OF CHEMICAL/BIOLOGICAL AGENT BY SORBENT. CLAY-CONTAINING FORMULATIONS FOR DECONTAMINATION, UNLIKE FORMULATIONS WHICH CONTAIN STRONG OXIDIZERS OR BASES, SHOULD NOT DAMAGE TE SURFACES OF INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS OR STATE-OF-THE-ART ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT. FURTHERMORE, REMOVAL OF AGENTS BY SORPTION WITH CLAY IS RAPID, E.G., ADSORPTION OF SOMAN BY CLAY SUSPENDED IN HEXANE IS ABOUT 90% COMPLETE WITHIN 30 SEC. THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM PHASE 1 WILL ENABLE THE AIR FORCE TO DECIDE WHICH COMBINATIONS OF SORBENT AND SUSPENDING LIQUID TO DEVELOP FOR DECONTAMINATING THE INTERIOR OF A DEEP BASE.