Destruction of simulated chemical warfare agents in non-thermal atmospheric-pressure air plasma

The decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA) using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge in air was investigated. Stainless steel samples inoculated with malathion (a surrogate for nerve agent VX) were placed on the cathode, where they were treated by the chemical active species produced in the streamers. An effective decontamination (>99.7 %) was achieved after 10 minutes (P=58 W). The energetic yield of the process depended on the contamination level (between 0.2 and 1 mg/cm), as the energy necessary to a complete destruction increased with the initial concentration of the simulant. Highly reactive oxygen species were shown to have a key role in the degradation mechanism, leading to the formation of an intermediate organophosphorous byproduct, malaoxon.