The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to turns stockpiles of chemical warfare agents into dirt or other safe organic compounds without generating hazardous waste.
Through the Agnostic Compact Demilitarization of Chemical Agents (ACDC) Broad Agency Announcement, DAPRA will fund innovative ideas for development of a transportable, prototype disposal system that converts any chemical warfare agent into safe organic compounds, such as harmless soil.
“Chemical warfare agents are made of deadly combinations of chemicals that in their original, basic constituent form were at one time a harmless part of the environment,” said Tyler McQuade, DARPA program manager. “ACDC aims to develop technologies that reverse the process and return the chemical compounds to their safe, natural state in the environment, without creating hazardous waste in the process.”
Further details are available via Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-15-12. A Proposer’s Day webinar for the program will be held Dec. 15, 2015 (pre-registration required). The BAA response deadline is March 2, 2015.