Decontamination of VX Surrogate Malathion by Atmospheric Pressure Radio-frequency Plasma Jet.

Decontamination of the VX surrogate (malathion) by the atmospheric pressure radio-frequency plasma jet (APPJ) was investigated. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to identify the active species and measure the neutral gas temperature. The effects of RF input power and exposing time on the decontamination efficiency and neutral gas temperature were investigated. The thermal effect and volatilization could be ignored from the APPJ decontamination mechanism in our processing conditions. The degradation products were identified by gas chromatograph coupled with mass spectrometers (GC–MS). Besides the trace amount of the oxidation product (malaxon), the main degradation products were formed by breaking the S–C bond of malathion. In the end, the main degradation mechanism was drawn out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]