TDA RESEARCH, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: DHP15-009

Description

TDA Research, Inc., a leading developer of specialty sorbents, will design and test sorbents for incorporation into passive dosimeter badges designed by a major dosimeter manufacturing company. For the past 15 years, wearable passive major dosimeter badges provided by our partner. have been used by crews of U.S. submarines to monitor exposure to chemical hazards, including many of concern in the solicitation (benzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, the xylenes, hexane, acetaldhyde and methylene chloride). The badges are also effective against acrolein, vinyl acetate, a wide variety of chlororganics and many carbonyl and other hazardous compounds desired in an ultimate passive dosimeter. Phase I work will test select sorbents against the substances on the solicitation list that are not currently monitored by Assay Technology dosimeters: pyrethroids, polychlorinated dibenzene dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (DCDFs) and compounds used in explosives: nitroaromatics and tetrazoles. In the Phase I work, novel TDA sorbents will be exposed to known concentrations of the select toxic substances, and amounts that can be extracted from each sorbent will be quantified by chromatography. In Phase II, superior sorbents will be incorporated into badge configurations designed by Assay Technology.By starting with proven sorbents (already certified for monitoring many of the hazardous chemicals on the solicitation list), and augmenting them with a few additional new sorbents to capture toxic gases that are not currently monitored, an ultimate passive dosimeter can be more rapidly developed and brought into production.