Evaluation of Peroxide-Based Compositions Containing Amino Acid Surfactants ^†

Chemical warfare agents are a real threat to the security of mankind and efforts are constantly being made to counteract their effects by developing new formulations and technologies [1,2]. At the same time, there is a need to reduce the environmental impact of decontamination formulations. In surfactant-based decontamination formulations which include reactive compounds, the role of surfactants is to solubilize the sparingly soluble chemical warfare agents and catalyze their decontamination. In this work, we studied the stability in oxidizing agents and also in hard water, saline solutions and seawater formulations which contain amino acid surfactants [3], such as sodium lauroyl sarcosinate surfactant with low environmental impact made from renewable feedstock. The stability of formulations containing hydrogen peroxide was evaluated by the proportion of active oxygen remaining after variable lengths of time. The foamability and foam stability were assessed using the Ross-Miles method. The influence of water hardness and water salinity on the surface properties of surfactants were investigated by surface tension measurements performed on a KSV tensiometer Sigma 700 model, using the Du Nouy ring method. This study helps to expand the range of environmentally friendly surfactants that can be used in decontamination formulations of chemical warfare agents in land or maritime applications.