Aqueous alum as a green method of chemical warfare agent destruction

I&EC 25

Daniel J. Williams, dwilliam@kennesaw.edu1, Vicky L. H. Bevilacqua2, William R. Creasy3, Carol A. S. Brevett4, David J. McGarvey, mcgarvey@eaicorp.com5, Jeffrey S. Rice2, Bradley J. McKinney1, Amitabha Mitra, amitr2@uky.edu6, David A. Atwood7, and H. D. Durst2. (1) Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, Mail Stop 1203, Kennesaw, GA 30144, (2) U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biolgical Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, (3) SAIC, PO Box 68, Apg, MD 21010, (4) SAIC, Inc, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, (5) EAI Corporation, Abingdon, MD 21009, (6) Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Chemistry-Physics Building, Lexington, KY 40508, (7) Department of Chemisry, University of Kentucky, Chemistry-Physics Building, Lexington, KY 40508
The Chemical Weapons Convention [www.opcw.org] stipulates the requirement for environmentally friendly means of chemical warfare agent (CWA) destruction. Because truly environmentally friendly methods have yet to be introduced for nerve agent destruction, we are investigating an approach to this problem. This approach uses buffered aqueous alum mixtures at ambient temperature for hydrolysis and removal of CWA's from solution. The attractiveness of this technology is its cost value and simplicity. There is also a present concern that current hydrolysis methods may allow terrorists to recover material for resynthesis of CWA's. Additionally, environmentalists are concerned about releasing phosphorus containing hydrolysate into surface waters thus creating a negative impact on water quality. To date, we have been able to document the effective hydrolysis and precipitation of GD (3,3-dimethyl-2-butyl methyl-phosphonofluoridate or Soman), and the binary weapons precursor for VX known as QL (O-ethyl-O'-[(2-isopropylamino)ethyl] methylphosphonite) using large stiochiometric excesses of aqueous aluminum sulfate solutions mixed with sodium aluminate to produce an acidic buffer solution of pH 4. VX (O-ethyl-S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl]methyl-phosphonothiolate) and GB (O-isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate or Sarin) have also been successfully removed from solution with this buffer but hydrolysis and identities of byproducts have not been fully documented. Unlike currently used high temperature NaOH hydrolysis for VX destruction, there is no evidence for the formation of toxic EA-2192 (S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl]methylphosphonothiolate) with acidic buffer treatment. We have also investigated alum treatment for a host of CWA simulants and have explored using aluminum and boron based dealkylating agents for potential use in conjunction with the alum protocol.
 

Detection of Biological and Chemical Agents in Warfare and Food Safety (Sponsored by Novel Chemistry with Industrial Applications)
1:30 PM-4:30 PM, Sunday, 26 March 2006 Georgia World Congress Center -- B313B, Oral

Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry

The 231st ACS National Meeting, Atlanta, GA, March 26-30, 2006