ELECTROTHERMAL DESORPTION OF CWA SIMULANTS FROM ACTIVATED CARBON CLOTH

The use of activated carbon fabrics (ACFs) that are desorbed electrothermally, also known as the Joule effect, is explored as a potential method to create a regenerating chemical warfare agent (CWA) filter. Electrical resistance vs. temperature measurements are presented for Kynol-based ACF and compared with results for ACFs produced from other substrates. Adsorption and desorption results for dimethylmethylphosphonate (DMMP) demonstrate that organophosphate compounds can be effectively desorbed from ACF. Chloroethane and propane are used to simulate the behavior of low-molecular-weight CWAs. Results for these more weakly adsorbed simulants indicate that a system that could indefinitely reject HCN without impregnants may be feasible. Planned efforts to advance this technology by both experimentation and modeling are discussed