Extraction Detoxification of Sensitive Components

Solvent extraction is one of the methods available for the decontamination of sensitive equipments that are contaminated with chemical warfare agents. The efficiency of extraction method have been verified on the samples, (steel or rubber) that have been contaminated with drops of mustard gas. These samples have been inserted into the extraction flow cell through which solvent (ethoxynonafluorobutane - HFE-7200) flowed. The solvent was sampled in the time intervals. These samples of solvent were analysed for the concentration of mustard gas. Process of extraction was monitored for the three operational factors (the solvent flow rate, temperature and the ultrasound power) and for three different situations (dissolution of drops of mustard gas, mustard gas desorption from the structure of the sample and dissolve drops of mustard gas with the subsequent desorption from the sample). The development of the decontamination process in time was found to consist of two stages. In the first stage the rapid dissolution of the liquid part of mustard gas in a solvent and in the second phase was such as mustard desorption from the structure of the sample and this phase was considerably slower. Extraction is to accelerate increasing the value of the flow of the solvent, the temperature and the performance of the ultrasound. These operational fac-tors have a significant impact on the thickness of the laminar layer of solvent, the solvent replacement coefficient in a cell, diffusion parameters in the process, the viscosity, the solubility of mustard gas in a solvent and the maximum achievable concentration of mustard gas in the rubber sample. The values of adjustable parameters was obtained by mathematical analysis of mathematical model. The progress of extraction under different operational conditions can be predicted by these parameters. The effect of solvents and ultrasound was experimentally verified for selected equipments of computing and communication technology. The possibility of separation of chemical warfare agents from the solvent was verified too