Discovery Heralds End to Chemical
Warfare July 16, 1998
Scientists in the United States have designed a
revolutionary new carbon fibre they claim could have protected Iraqi
Kurds from some of the lethal chemical weapons used during the
Iraq-Iran war.
The new and relatively inexpensive form of fibre - which
has the potential to render chemical and germ warfare obsolete in
future - is more efficient and tougher than the activated carbon
granules widely used today in domestic and industrial air and water
systems.
The material is so fine that - even when used as a
handkerchief - it can trap and immobilise individual airborne viruses
(such as Ebola, Lassa fever and hantaviruses), bacteria (such as
anthrax), nerve-destroying gases and other deadly agents of chemical
warfare.
"Heating the fibre containing these agents to over 200
degrees, or passing an electric current through it, would then kill
off the viruses or bacteria, while enabling the material to be used
again," said Professor Jim Economy, a materials scientist at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The fibre - made from a special glass-coated resin and
activated by extreme heat - is not unlike the kinds of heat shields
used to protect spacecraft during their re-entry through the earth's
atmosphere.
"By rendering the weapons useless, it could finally put
an end to biological and chemical warfare," said Professor Economy,
who is attending the World Polymer Congress on the Gold Coast, which
ends tomorrow.
Carbon granules, with an annual market in the region of
$800 million, are one of the world's great cleansing agents. They may
be employed for "scrubbing" gases, for removing colors, odors, toxins
and pesticides from drinking water, and in the food and
beverage-processing industries.
Activated carbon, in one form or another, is also used
widely in the recovery of gold during ore processing. But existing
forms of activated carbon can only reduce concentrations of gases down
to 10 to 30 parts per million.
The new activated carbon fibres, on the other hand, can
reduce gas concentrations down to several parts per billion.
The technology has a raft of other applications: from
protective gloves and masks to whole suits for laboratory scientists.
The new fibres - which may be specifically designed to
absorb or filter out certain molecules of a particular size to improve
such products as water filters and industrial cleansers - should be on
the market within about a year, Professor Economy said.
by Peter Spinks