Evaluation of Catalytic Materials for Military Air Purification Applications

摘要

Fielded air purification systems designed for removal of chemical warfare agents from air streams are based solely on activated, impregnated carbon, namely ASZM-TEDA. The broad chemical biological and radiological (CBR) threat presents a challenge to the traditional fielded CBR air purification technology, impregnated carbon filters. While these filters function well against a wide range of chemical agents, they possess several shortcomings such as limited capacity for agents that are removed by chemical reaction and/or weakly adsorbed, and minimal protection against several of the toxic industrial chemicals (TICs). Further, prolonged environmental exposure has been shown to reduce the capacity of these filters for agents that are removed by chemical reaction. The result of these shortcomings are (1) to limit the usefulness/protection capability of current NBC filters and (2) to impose change-out requirements that present logistical as well as disposal burdens to the user. Catalytic oxidation is an alternative air purification technology that is being investigated as a means of alleviating the above mentioned burdens. CATOX technology's target attributes include: (1) broad protection against chem-bio threat, (2) reduced logistics due to long operational life, (3) greatly increased capacity for CB agents and TICs compared to current NBC collective protection technologies and (4) lower energy costs relative to other regenerative filtration technologies.