National Academies Press: OpenBook

Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions (1993)

Chapter: 6 Low-Temperature, Liquid-Phase Processes

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Suggested Citation:"6 Low-Temperature, Liquid-Phase Processes." National Research Council. 1993. Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2218.
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Page 109

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LOW-TEMPERATURE, LIQUID-PHASE PROCESSES 109 6 Low-Temperature, Liquid-Phase Processes This chapter reviews several chemical, biological, and other processes designed to destroy chemical agents under low-temperature conditions, those from about 20°C to less than 100°C. The lower value is room temperature. The upper value allows the use of aqueous systems at atmospheric pressure to minimize the risks of leakage of high concentrations of agent from pressurized autoclaves. Three main types of low-temperature, liquid-phase processes are reviewed below: processes for detoxification, processes for oxidation of organic residue, and biological processes. Detoxification processes have been the most intensively studied. They offer promising approaches for all three major agents in the U.S. stockpile (GB, VX, and H). This set of processes includes chemical processes and the use of ionizing radiation for detoxification. In addition to detoxification by conversion of agent to other compounds, demilitarization requires the process to be essentially irreversible (see Chapter 1). This requirement will, in some cases, require a two-step sequence of initial detoxification followed by further chemical processing, which could be accomplished with additional chemical reaction but would not require complete oxidation to carbon dioxide. Detoxification reactions that produce irreversible products are therefore of most interest. Relatively little effort has been directed to achieving complete oxidation at low pressure and temperature. However, there are several leads in this direction, arising from studies of chlorinated hydrocarbon destruction and agent decontamination. In view of recent advances in synthetic and catalytic chemistry, the discovery of improved oxidation processes seems possible. The time pressure to develop these processes is less than for detoxification processes, because material detoxified to meet the treaty demilitarization requirements can be stored safely and in compliance with the international treaty, until an improved oxidation process is developed and tested. Biochemical processes to destroy chemical agents have received relatively little study, and if they are to be used, both exploratory and basic

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The U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program was established with the goal of destroying the nation's stockpile of lethal unitary chemical weapons. Since 1990 the U.S. Army has been testing a baseline incineration technology on Johnston Island in the southern Pacific Ocean. Under the planned disposal program, this baseline technology will be imported in the mid to late 1990s to continental United States disposal facilities; construction will include eight stockpile storage sites.

In early 1992 the Committee on Alternative Chemical Demilitarization Technologies was formed by the National Research Council to investigate potential alternatives to the baseline technology. This book, the result of its investigation, addresses the use of alternative destruction technologies to replace, partly or wholly, or to be used in addition to the baseline technology. The book considers principal technologies that might be applied to the disposal program, strategies that might be used to manage the stockpile, and combinations of technologies that might be employed.

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