Destruction of Weapons of Mass Destruction

We may be able to use some undergraduate help with a new experiment on the combustion chemistry of organosulfur compounds. “Mustard agents” are chemical weapons that cause blistering. We are interested in understanding how they can be destroyed in incinerators or other combustion devices. To improve the knowledge of the relevant combustion chemistry, we are getting ready to perform flow reactor experiments with simulants of the mustard agents. (These simulants are much less toxic compounds that are expected to undergo reactions similar to those of the “real thing.”)

Undergraduates might be involved in: refurbishing the flow reactor and testing its operation under new conditions, and developing and testing analytical methods for the simulants and their destruction products.