In Situ Decontamination of Facilities Containing High Explosives

50664-98-I In Situ Decontamination of Facilities Containing High Explosives--Lynntech, Inc., 7610 Eastmark Drive, Suite 202, College Station, TX 77840-4023; (409) 693-0017 Dr. G. Duncan Hitchens, Principal Investigator Dr. Oliver J. Murphy, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82610 Amount: $75,000 The decontamination of facilities containing high explosives is currently a very labor intensive and costly procedure, usually generating large volumes of secondary waste. This project will use a novel gaseous procedure to decontaminate contaminated facilities in situ, eliminating secondary waste. This new procedure will be thorough, easy, inexpensive, environmentally safe and rapid. The objective of this project is to demonstrate that gaseous ozone is an effective method for the decontamination of facilities containing high explosives. Gaseous ozone will be pumped into a sealed facility and allowed to set for a predetermined length of time -- from 1 to 7 days. During that time, the gaseous ozone will permeate the entire building, destroying high explosives in ceiling tile, ventilation systems, and cracks and crevices in the walls and floors. Phase I will demonstrate that gaseous ozone can successfully destroy high explosive surrogates. The oxidative decomposition of the surrogates will also scrutinized for the presence of intermediates. When possible, the identity of the intermediates will be identified. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Potential commercial applications include using gaseous ozone to decontaminate any DOE, DoD, or private facility contaminated with explosives or other munitions. Gaseous ozone also has the potential to decontaminate chemical and biological warfare agents. Other applications include clean rooms in the semiconductor industry, sterilization of medical instruments, disinfection of hospital rooms to control the spread of infection diseases, disinfection and disposal of medical waste, cleaning processing areas for specialty chemicals, decontaminating pesticide production facilities, and fumigation of pesticide contaminated fruits, vegetables, and grains._