Search

A method to empirically determine the gaseous emissions produced from a pyrotechnic flare composition through the combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry is described. In this approach, milligram quantities of a model yellow signal flare composition and its individual polymeric constituents were subjected to pyrolysis at conditions that were guided via thermal analysis. Many volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were identified as emission products even though thermochemical calculations fail to anticipate such products. Thus, these data may complement characterization of emission products predicted in silico. Pyrolysis of this pyrotechnic composition also demonstrated unique products formed via donation of nitrogen to aromatic fragments originating from resinous portions of the formulation. These products included EPA priority pollutants that were not formed by decomposition from staple ingredients. This work demonstrates that a variety of EPA priority pollutants...

A method of differentiating elemental B from oxidized B using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) is presented. The method was developed and validated on weapons grade BKNO3.

The complete catalytic oxidation of dichloromethane, chloroform, and their binary mixtures was examined over a 3% Pt/[kappa]-[delta] Al[sub 2]O[sub 3] catalyst at temperature between 300 and 400 C using a fixed bed catalytic reactor. The oxidation of chloroform and dichloromethane as pure compounds was nonlinear in the concentration of chloromethane and zeroth order in the concentration of oxygen. HCl, formed during the oxidation of each chloromethane, decreased the reaction rate. Kinetic rate expressions were developed to described the oxidation of dichloromethane and chloroform as pure compounds. These expressions were derived by assuming that the reaction occurred via adsorption and decomposition of the chloromethane into an oxygen covered platinum surface, with the reaction being inhibited by the presence of HCl. From the results of the pure compound studies, reaction rate expressions were developed to describe the oxidation of dichloromethane/chloroform mixtures. The resulting reaction rate expressions accurately predicted the catalyst's performance during the oxidation of dichloromethane/chloroform mixtures over a wide range of conditions.