Composting of soils/sediments and sludges containing toxic organics including high energy explosives. Final report

Abstract

Cunently available technology isnotadequate toassess environmental contamination at Department of Energy ('_.")E)sites, take permanentremedial action, and eliminate or minimize theenvironmental impact offuture operations. Technical resources toaddress these shortcomings exist within theDOE community andthe private sector, buttheinvolvement oftheprivate sector inattaining permanent andcost-effective solutions hasbeenlimited. During 1990, on behalf ofDOE's Office ofTechnology Development, ArgonneNational Laboratory (ANL) conducted a competitive procurement ofresearch anddevelopment projects addressing soil remcdiation, groundwater remediation, site characterization, and contaminant containment. Fifteen contracts were negotiated in these areas. Thisreport documents work performed as partof thePrivate Sector Research and Development Programsponsored by theDOE's Office ofTechnology Development within the Enviromental Restoration andWasteManagementProgram.The research anddevelopment work described herein was conducted under contract toANL. On behalf ofDOE andANL, Iwishtothank theperforming contractor andespecially the report authors fortheir cooperation andtheir contribution todevelopment ofnew processes for characterization andremcdiadon ofDOE's environmental problems. We anticipate that the R&D investment described here wiU berepaid many-fold inthe application ofbetter, faster, safer, and cheaper technologies. Details of theprocurement process and status reports forall15 of thecontractors performing underthis programcan be foundin"Applied Research and Development Private Sector Accomplishments-Interim Report" (Report No.DOE/CH-9216

Characterization of microbial species in the biodegradation of explosives, military shooting range, Kaduna, Nigeria

“…MBC showed high percentage degradation of explosive which might be attributed to the synergistic effect (HGT) between the catabolic enzymes in the eight bacteria isolates. These findings are similar to the result obtained by Duniya et al, 45 whose research reported biodegradation rates at 97% by MBC reported. 143 Isolated bacteria species at the study site with potential for biodegradation of explosives are bacillus sp; Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp, Klebsiella nitroreductases, Genes required for degradation of xenobiotic may be recruited by various horizontal transfer mechanisms 93 so that lateral gene transfer could be involved in the broad distribution of nitroreductases in prokaryotic organisms.…”

Aging of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN)

“…Composting has been used to treat a wide variety of sludges and soils contaminated with organonitro explosives, including PETN. [Doyle 1993] Fungi are thought to play a vital role in the composting treatment process. In isotopically labeled laboratory-scale compost tests, PETN was mineralized to some extent although highly polar 14 C-compounds were initially found in the composts.…”

Treatment of HMX and RDX contamination

“…In a study by Doyle and Kitchens (1993) soil from the Pantex Plant was used to evaluate composting as a remediation method for RDX, HMX, triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB), and pentaerythritoltetranitrate (PETN) contamination. In laboratory tests uncontaminated soils samples were spiked with 220 pg/g RDX, 220 pg/g HMX, 400 pg/g PETN, and 2700 pg/g TATB.…”

“…Numerous laboratory and field tests have achieved degradation efficiencies greater then 90% for RDX and HMX using a variety of composting materials (Doyle, et al 1986;Doyle and Kitchens. 1993;Griest, et al 1990;Isbister, et al 1982;Williams, et al 1992).…”