In situ Biological Treatment for Explosives in Ground Water

The U.S. Army has 21 ammunition plants in the U.S. along with a large number of Army Depots and Forts. It is estimated that 40 of these installations reqire clean up of explosives such as TNT, RDX and their partai; breakdown products such as TNB. A lowcost method for treatment of explosives in-situ for soils and groundwater is needed.Anaerobic reductive transformation appears to be a promising option based on successful use of this technology for treatment of explosives containing wastewaters such aspinkwater. Better information on the factors that will control the rate and extent of explosives treatment in-situ is needed before proceeding to the field.The objectives of this proposed effort is to examine both nitrate reducing and methanogenicanaerobic conditions with a suite of different possible electron donors to determine the best conditions for proceding to field tests in future work.The information and know how developed as a part of this proposed effort will provide the base ofinformation needed to proceed to field testing. This same information will be extremely useful in optimizing and improving on-site treatment of munitions effluents such as pinkwater. This same approach of reductive transformation in-situ will have furtherapplication for the treatment of other recalcitrant compounds such as pesticides.