The U.S. Army is in the process of replacing currently fielded water purification tablets with an Individual Water Treatment Device (IWTD) that works in conjunction with the current Army personal hydration system. While the primary focus of this replacement is on microbiological purification, the overall objective of the IWTD system is to provide potable water from any fresh water source, including those contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals (TICs). This paper addresses the development and testing of a broad spectrum of adsorptive media to remove select representative TICs and their incorporation into the IWTD. Specific to this effort is the use of a thin sheet design for the adsorptive media. Potential performance benefits of this design over the standard in-line packed bed approach include: an increase in the chemical removal capacity on an adsorbent weight basis, faster kinetics for chemical removal, and a significantly lower pressure drop. For an individual drinking water treatment system this translates to reduced weight and bulk of the filter, more comfortable drinking experience with lower pressure drops, and potential for more ergonomic system design. A selected group of TICs that represent a diverse range of polar and non-polar organics, heavy metals and toxic anions has been established for media testing with associated challenge concentrations and military exposure guidelines as acceptance criteria. The analytical techniques developed for these chemicals include atomic adsorption spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography / mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography / mass spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Laboratory methods were established for preparing and testing media in thin sheet form. This paper describes the process of selection of the media to be incorporated into the IWTD for optimum TIC removal based on media weight and the analytical techniques utilized for identifying the best candidates.

Individual water purification

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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