The development and evaluation of a non-pressurised, chemical oxygen reaction generation vessel and breathing system providing emergency oxygen for an extended duration.

The objective was to develop a sodium percarbonate/water/catalyst chemical oxygen generator that did not require compressed gas. Existing devices utilising this reaction have a very short duration of action. Preliminary experiments with a glass reaction vessel, water bath and electronic flowmeter indicated that many factors affected oxygen production rate including reagent formulation, temperature, water volume and agitation frequency. Having undertaken full-scale experiments using a stainless steel vessel, an optimum combination of reagents was found to be 1 litre water, 0.75 g manganese dioxide catalyst, 60 g sodium percarbonate granules and 800 g of custom pressed 7.21 (0.28) g sodium percarbonate tablets. This combination of granules and slower dissolution tablets produced a rapid initial oxygen flow to 'purge' an attached low-flow breathing system allowing immediate use, followed by a constant flow meeting metabolic requirements for a minimum of 1 h duration.