DEACTIVATION OF BLISTERING AGENTS: LITERATURE REVIEW

Recently, the relevance of research into the design of effective systems for the decomposition of chemical weaponscomponents has been dictated by the current large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war with a high probability of theenemy using chemical weapons to exterminate both the military and civilian population. The group of chemicalwarfare agents (CWA) of blistering action includes mainly stable liquid substances, a characteristic feature ofwhich is inflammation of the dermal integument of varying degrees. A typical representative of this group ismustard gas, which, depending on the concentration, causes both local skin lesions and general organismpoisoning. A review of studies and publications on the use of mostly chemical and some physical methods ofmustard gas decontamination was conducted. A series of works focuses on the issues of maintaining highefficiency and controllability of decontamination processes, creating optimal conditions for the dissolution ofhydrophobic toxic substrates with maximum contact between the degasser and the toxic substance. The analysisof data on the use of various formulations for the breakdown of chemical warfare agents has shown that the useof “green” systems based on hydrogen peroxide for the destruction of toxic substrates on an industrial scale andfor individual decontamination is preferable to other methods. The sources of scientific information cited in thisreview indicate that there is currently a lack of universal decontamination systems for CWA decontamination thatwould guarantee rapid and effective degradation of these compounds. This problem requires additional search foroptimization of decontamination systems.