Thermocatalytic decomposition of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) in a multi-tubular, flow-through catalytic membrane reactor

• A hybrid system is developed that combines the FTCMR with a SFMS.
• It results in the continuous destruction of CWA for extended time periods.
• The hybrid system shows superior performance to that of a sole FTCMR.

The potential for the use of chemical weapons has increased in recent times. The successful use of a flow-through catalytic membrane reactor (FTCMR) as a protection system against a chemical warfare agent (CWA) was recently reported by this group. This FTCMR, employing a single catalytically active mesoporous membrane, was applied for the destruction of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), which is known as a chemical precursor (and used to simulate its characteristics) for Sarin (GB), a toxic CWA. In this paper, results are reported of efforts to scale-up this lab-scale FTCMR towards practical individual protection (IP) and collective protection (CP) applications. A multi-tubular FTCMR (MFTCMR) has been developed and tested towards the destruction of DMMP. The MFTCMR has been shown quite effective, providing extended protection periods against this CWA simulant. A key part of the research effort focused on improving the preparation of the catalytically active membranes to prepare membrane bundles with reproducible transport characteristics and reactivity. A key challenge for the large-scale production of such devices, furthermore, remains the development of a simple non-destructive test that assures that the produced parts are appropriate for the proposed application and that they continue to remain active during their shelf-life prior to their use. As part of this effort a simple propane-in-air light-off test was studied, which was shown capable to track the reactivity and performance of the MFTCMR.