The PCS, D-FENS, D-FEND ALL, and CoD: Novel decontamination technologies for the Military.

Dr. Christopher Doona carries out basic and applied research in areas related to materials, textiles, decontamination and C-B Defense, and food preservation and stabilization. In work that began with seeking environmentally-friendly chemical heater alternatives for military rations, Dr. Doona discovered novel oxidation-reduction reaction chemistry that controllably and safely produces the well-known disinfectant chlorine dioxide that has proliferated into an ensemble of 14 patents based on unique chemistries and devices. These inventions use dry chemicals mixed with available water sources to generate chlorine dioxide on-site and at point-of-use for sterilizing surgical instruments, sanitizing fresh produce, disinfecting surfaces in medical facilities, latrines, dining rooms, decontaminating textiles, disinfecting recycled graywater, and possibly for use on the International Space Station for NASA. Dr. Doona’s patents have been licensed and commercialized, and they were featured in 2014-15 for providing medical personnel from Doctors without Borders, World Health Organization (WHO), Public Health Canada, and National Institute of Health (NIH - with support from US government) an available disinfectant technology for sterilizing medical equipment at the epicenter of the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Dr. Doona’s technologies derive from the controlled chemical production of chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) by unique “effector” reaction chemistry, as demonstrated recently in the Journal of Visualized Experiments and the kinetics of these reactions (including Marcus Theory calculations) were published in 2014 in International Journal of Chemical Kinetics. The ontogeny of these technologies from basic research to commercial innovation will be discussed.