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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10 aqueous solutions difficult. HD is quite reactive; with an adequate area of HD-liquid interface, many of the reactions useful for GB are likely to be effective for HD. Greater surface area of the interface can be obtained by high-energy physical dispersion or use of emulsifying agents. The latter approach, for microemulsions, requires about equal quantifies of agent and emulsifier, which increases the amount of organic waste. Operations at 70° to 100°C may alleviate the interface problem, as illustrated by the successful treatment of GB with calcium hydroxide at such temperatures. Physical dispersion may still be required for the gelled HD found in the stockpile. Although the above reactions convert agent to less toxic compounds, some reaction products could be converted back to the original agent and would not meet the treaty demilitarization requirement of irreversibility of agent products under storage. However, these reaction products would be more suitable feed for subsequent processing steps that accomplish further conversion by oxidation. The development and demonstration of such detoxification processes will require substantial laboratory and pilot plant work for all three agents. Low-Temperature, Low-Pressure, Liquid-Phase Oxidation Demilitarization treaty requirements can be met by detoxification, but further conversion, possibly by oxidation, may be needed for general environmental, storage, safety, and other reasons. There has been little investigation of the use of low-temperature oxidation processes for waste streams resulting from low-and medium-temperature detoxification processes. However, treatment of industrial waste and contaminated groundwater by low-temperature oxidation is being actively investigated and provides some leads on the use of chemical and biological processes for treating agent waste streams. At temperatures below the boiling point of water, very active oxidizing agents (with catalysis) are required for oxidation. Peroxydisulfate salts can oxidize most organic compounds to carbon dioxide but would produce a very large waste stream. It has been proposed that to optimize the process the spent reagent be recycled by electrolytic regeneration; use of catalyzed hydrogen peroxide might reduce the regeneration requirements. Ultraviolet light can activate aqueous solutions of ozone and hydrogen peroxide and is an option for treating contaminated groundwater. However, the large electricity requirements of this process when treating large reaction product streams place it at a disadvantage with alternatives. Biological oxidation is commonly applied to industrial and municipal waste streams. Although its application to the liquid waste streams from
