TY - JOUR
T1 - In situ biodegradation of high explosives in soils
T2 - Field demonstration
AU - Rainwater, Ken
AU - Heintz, Caryl
AU - Mollhagen, Tony
AU - Hansen, Lance
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the BWXT Pantex Environmental Restoration soil remediation group led by Jay Childress. The project was also supported by the Amarillo National Research Center, the DOE’s Innovative Technology Remediation Demonstration Program through Sandia National Laboratory, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - The first field pilot-scale demonstration of a technology for in situ remediation of vadose zone soils contaminated with high explosives (HEs) has been performed at the Department of Energy's Pantex Plant. The HEs of concern at the demonstration site were hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and the 2,4,6- trinitrotoluene (TNT) metabolite 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB). Concentrations ranged from 70 ppm, above the (prior to 1999) risk reduction clean-up criteria of 2.6 and 0.51 ppm, respectively. The shallow (<10 m depth) soils at the site could not be excavated due to the presence of buried utilities. Based on previous laboratory studies, it was found that the contaminated soils had indigenous microbial populations that could be stimulated to degrade the RDX and TNB anaerobically. A 5-spot well pattern with injection at the central well and extraction at the four outer wells (each 4.6 m from the injection well) was used to flood the target vadose zone soils with nitrogen gas with the intent of stimulating the activity of the HE degraders. The system was monitored periodically for gas composition as well as HE concentrations and microbial activity in retrievable soil samples. After 295 days of in situ treatment, the average target HE concentrations were approximately one-third lower than the initial site averages. Operation of the pilot-scale treatment system continues.
AB - The first field pilot-scale demonstration of a technology for in situ remediation of vadose zone soils contaminated with high explosives (HEs) has been performed at the Department of Energy's Pantex Plant. The HEs of concern at the demonstration site were hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and the 2,4,6- trinitrotoluene (TNT) metabolite 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB). Concentrations ranged from 70 ppm, above the (prior to 1999) risk reduction clean-up criteria of 2.6 and 0.51 ppm, respectively. The shallow (<10 m depth) soils at the site could not be excavated due to the presence of buried utilities. Based on previous laboratory studies, it was found that the contaminated soils had indigenous microbial populations that could be stimulated to degrade the RDX and TNB anaerobically. A 5-spot well pattern with injection at the central well and extraction at the four outer wells (each 4.6 m from the injection well) was used to flood the target vadose zone soils with nitrogen gas with the intent of stimulating the activity of the HE degraders. The system was monitored periodically for gas composition as well as HE concentrations and microbial activity in retrievable soil samples. After 295 days of in situ treatment, the average target HE concentrations were approximately one-third lower than the initial site averages. Operation of the pilot-scale treatment system continues.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=14944351810&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10889860290777666
DO - 10.1080/10889860290777666
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:14944351810
SN - 1088-9868
VL - 6
SP - 351
EP - 371
JO - Bioremediation Journal
JF - Bioremediation Journal
IS - 4
ER -