Researchers from the nonprofit Southwest Research Institute recently detailed a method to neutralize hazardous materials without contaminating the surrounding environment.
The San Antonio-based organization helped develop the system in response to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's call for innovations that destroy chemical warfare agents without creating hazardous waste.
Current methods to mitigate chemical agents result in hazardous byproducts, but the SwRI system funnels the exhaust gas from the process through an engine thermal destruction device to capture the combusted byproducts.
A Canadian company, meanwhile, developed a liquid scrubber system for use in wet environments.
Both systems are designed to fit into a large shipping container for easy transportation to hazardous sites. The systems also utilize local soil, which remains non-hazardous and eliminates the need to transport water to sites or ship waste material to a treatment facility.
“It is in our national interest to have a field operable unit that can safely dispose of chemical warfare agents and other dangerous chemicals on the front lines in a timely manner,” Darrel Johnston, a senior program manager in SwRI’s Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division, said in a statement.
SwRI officials said that the system was validated in recent tests and will be evaluated using authentic chemical agents this summer.