Monitoring of Sulfur Mustard (HD) Vapor in the Presence of Absorptive Building Materials

In the event of an accidental or intentional release of a chemical warfare agent (CWA), environmental samples must be collected and analyzed to assess the level of the contamination. Equally important is an understanding of the fate and transport of a CWA in the presence of porous materials, which may impact the ability to collect environmental samples. Air monitoring techniques may be used to rule in/out the presence of a CWA. Here, relationships between the CWA sulfur mustard (HD) surface contamination levels and the associated HD vapor concentration were investigated. Results indicate that absorption of HD into vinyl, concrete, and sealed concrete followed by slow diffusion out of these materials significantly prolonged the presence of HD vapor concentrations. The extracted material recovery data suggest that positive correlations can be established between residual material contamination and vapor concentration but also that surface wiping alone would fail to detect absorbed HD.