The Department of Defense Chemical and Biological Defense Program has a need for a highly effective, relatively low cost, low human toxicity coating or surface treatment that can be applied to fabrics and other surfaces to render them self-decontaminating to chemical and biological warfare agents. ETEC has identified a novel chemistry that promises to be a highly effective self-regenerating decontaminating agent at room temperature. The chemistry can be applied as an active coating or as a modification to cellulosic fibers. The novel agent will fully neutralize both chemical and biological agents, and it will have very low toxicity to humans. The Phase I effort will demonstrate the feasibility of this agent through preparation of the new chemistry on cotton cloth and as a coating on a metal substrate, decontamination effectiveness testing, and cost estimation. The Phase I effort includes selecting the best embodiments, determining decontamination effectiveness using simulated contaminants, developing the bonding and coating chemistry, estimating cost, and reporting results. Phase I will determine the feasibility of the novel chemistry. The result of Phase II will be two products, a self-decontaminating fabric treatment and a durable self-decontaminating surface coating. The benefits of the products will be greater operations efficiency and lower cost, better availability and increased life of equipment and clothing during CBW scenarios, and greater personnel safety. Potential commercial applications are for faster, easier, and more effective decontamination of certain types of medical equipment (particularly emergency and field equipment), equipment for civilian emergency response personnel, and perhaps hazardous materials response equipment. The estimated market is $50 - 500 million per year.
