Chemical Warfare Agents & Homeland Security

Detection & destruction for military & counter-terrorism security forces

Chemical warfare (CW) agents such as the nerve agents VX, Sarin (GB), Tabun (GA) and the blister agent mustard gas (HD) are extremely toxic materials which need to be monitored for both defence applications (e.g. monitoring storage bunkers and destruction processes) plus civil defence/‘homeland security’. Markes thermal desorption systems are compatible with even the most difficult compounds (e.g. free-VX) and are becoming the de facto equipment of choice in both these application areas.

Markes technology has been independently evaluated by key US agencies and found to outperform previous standards

Continuous air monitoring & tube analysis

Markes uniquely versatile range of thermal desorption (TD) technology and air monitoring equipment includes both rugged systems for continuous near real-time air monitoring and state-of-the-art laboratory instruments for automated analysis of Depot Area Air Monitoring System (DAAMS) tubes.  

Key uses include:

Mobile/transportable detection systems for emergency deployment (onsite analysis)

• TT24-7 twin-trap thermal desorber Provides both continuous online analysis and/or offline tube based sampling in one transportable system. 

Continuous unattended, near real time (NRT) monitoring of sensitive civilian locations or storage/demilitarization (Demil) facilities (Online analysis)

• Rugged TT24-7 twin-trap thermal desorber for near real-time on-site operation. Cycle times below 15 minutes, optimum efficiency/detection limits and minimal false positives.
  
• Multi-mode sampling: Continuous online, single tube, external liquid calibration, split or splitless injection. 

Automated sequential tube sampling and offline laboratory analysis (for data confirmation and ultimate detection limits)

• UNITY, ULTRA 50:50 and AutoSecure TD systems offer manual or automated thermal desorption of sorbent (DAAMS) tubes for monitoring, personal exposure and trace CW agents in the environment.  Large volume sampling onto sorbent tubes combined with peerless 2-stage desorption efficiency offer ultimate detection limits.  
  
  
• MTS-32: Remote, sequential sampling of air onto a series of up to 32 standard 3.5-inch sorbent tubes.
  
  
• Auto-DAAMS TD system: The Auto-DAAMS thermal desorption (TD) system comprises a Markes UNITY TD platform with an ULTRA-X autosampler configured for 4.5-inch DAAMS (Depot Area Air Monitoring System) tubes - Standard (6 mm glass) or high flow (10 mm OD with 6 mm ends).
  
  
• Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor: Automated multi chamber technology to monitor CW/Toxic industrial chemicals (TIC) emissions from bulk solids and materials. Additional capacity for CW/TIC permeation studies through fabrics and materials.
  
  
• TubeTAG: RFID tracking technology for 3.5-inch and 4.5-inch DAAMS tubes.

Available free of charge to all TD users:  

Thermal Desorption: A Practical Applications Guide.  III Defence and Forensic

Markes TD systems can be connected to any make of GC(MS) including systems from Agilent Technologies, Perkin Elmer, Shimadzu, Thermo Electron and Varian.