CHART: a novel system for detector evaluation against toxic chemical aerosols

Concern over the possibility of deliberate dispersion of chemical warfare agents and highly toxic pharmaceutical based agents as persistent aerosols has raised the need for experimental assessment of current and future defensive capabilities of armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Therefor we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 1050
Main Authors:	Durán Jiménez, Dinesh, Venema, Tom, de Bruin-Hoegée, Mirjam, Alkema, Duurt P. W., Busker, Ruud W., van Wuijckhuijse, Arjan L.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 10-01-2024 Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio
Subjects:	639/166 639/638/11 639/638/899 Aerosol research Aerosols Chemical warfare agents Humanities and Social Sciences Military multidisciplinary Particle counters Respiratory tract Science Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:	Concern over the possibility of deliberate dispersion of chemical warfare agents and highly toxic pharmaceutical based agents as persistent aerosols has raised the need for experimental assessment of current and future defensive capabilities of armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Therefor we herewith present the design, realization and validation of the Chemical Hot Aerosol Research Tool (CHART) as a validated and safe experimental set-up for performance evaluation of chemical detection and identification equipment against chemical warfare agents and other highly toxic compounds. In the CHART liquid and solid compounds in solution or suspension are being dispersed as aerosols in a nebulization chamber. A broad dynamic particle size range can be generated, including particles known to be able to reach the lower respiratory tract. The aerosol generated is presented to the detection system-under-test while being monitored and characterized in real-time, using an optical particle counter and a time-of-flight aerosol analyzer, respectively. Additionally, the chemical composition of the aerosol is ex situ measured by analytical chemical methods. Evidently, in the design of the CHART significant emphasis was placed on laboratory safety and containment of toxic chemicals. The CHART presented in this paper has proven to be an indispensable experimental tool to study detectors and fieldable identification equipment against toxic chemical aerosols.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-023-50718-9