This study addresses the individual decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and other hazardous substances. The individual decontamination applies to contaminated body surfaces, protective clothing and objects immediately after contamination, performed individually or by mutual assistance using prescribed or improvised devices. The article evaluates the importance of individual decontamination, security level for Fire and Rescue Service Units of the Czech Republic (FRS CR) and demonstrates some of the devices. The decontamination efficiency of selected methods (sorbent, glove and sponge, two-chamber foam device and wiping with alcohol) was evaluated for protective clothing and painted steel plate contaminated with O-ethyl-S-(diisopropylaminoethyl)-methylthiophosphonate (VX), sulfur mustard, o-cresol and acrylonitrile. The methods were assessed from an economic point of view and with regard to specific user parameters, such as the decontamination of surfaces or materials with poor accessibility and vertical surfaces, the need for a water rinse as well as toxic waste and its disposal.
The decontamination of chemical warfare agents is important for the elimination or reduction of the effects of these substances on persons. Solid decontamination (degradation) sorbents that decompose dangerous substances belong among modern decontamination substances. The aim of the study was to design a procedure for monitoring the degradation of chemical warfare agents using such sorbents. The degradation of soman, VX [O-ethyl-S-(diisopropylaminoethyl)methylphosphonothioate] and sulphur mustard (chemical warfare agents) was monitored using FTIR spectrometry with the attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique. During the development and validation of this process, bonds were found in the substance molecule that decomposed and the positions of the absorbance bands corresponded to the vibration of these bonds. The evaluation of the degradation efficiency procedure for sorbents on chemical warfare agents was designed based on this study. We present the result of the measurements graphically as the time dependence of the distributed chemical warfare agent ratio, and the reaction times required to decompose 50% and 90% of the original amount of the substance.
General conditions and requirements for an internal standard useful in the determination of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) by the method of gas chromatography coupled with mass detection (GC/MS) were defined. The determination is based on a GC/MS analysis of a mixture of a CWA with an internal standard, conversion of the TIC chromatogram to a chromatogram extracted at a particular m/z ratio, and calculation of the CWA concentration from the internal standard concentration, response factor, and chromatographic peak areas. Available internal standards were identified, and they were verified for seven organophosphorus nerve-paralysing agents. Corresponding response factors were determined as a ratio of gradients of the linear functions of the peak area and compound concentration. Linearity, repeatability, and accuracy of the measurements were evaluated. The determination can be performed on all GC/MS systems of the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic (FRS), where no CWA standards are available.
This paper describes the requirements for the devices of detection, chemical reconnaissance and field analyses of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and divides them into simple devices of detection, universal detectors, selective analyzers, multi-component analyzers and mobile laboratories. It also describes the devices of detection available within the Fire and Rescue Service of the Czech Republic (FRS CR) and compares them with some prospective trends of further development.
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