UV-VIS spectroscopy of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene-hydroxide reaction.

Contamination of groundwater, surface water and soil by explosives has occurred at military sites throughout the world as a result of manufacture of explosive compounds, assembly of munitions, and deployment of explosives containing devices. Due to the adverse effects of explosives on humans and other natural receptors, a low cost means of decontaminating these areas of contamination is needed. Base-induced transformation of explosives has shown promise as a rapid, low cost, and minimally resource-intensive technology for detoxifying explosives in soil and water. In order to understand the reaction mechanism, a reaction mixture of 2:1:1 (water:2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT):1 N KOH) was analyzed by UV/VIS spectrometry from 190 to 1,100 nm. Time course measurements were conducted at 25, 20, 15, and 12 degrees C. A factor analysis program was used to analyze the spectral data. Principal component analysis indicated that six principal components explained the spectra to within experimental error, with four factors explaining the majority of the variance. Test spectral vectors for four components were developed, including TNT, two intermediates, and the final product, and were tested against the abstract vectors. Two possible reaction mechanisms were suggested and tested to explain the spectral data.

Analysis of CL-20 in environmental matrices: water and soil.

Analytical techniques for the detection of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazatetracyclo(5.5.0.05,9.03,11)dodecane (CL-20) in water and soil are developed by adapting methods traditionally used for the analysis of nitroaromatics. CL-20 (a new explosives compound) is thermally labile, exhibits high polarity, and has low solubility in water. These constraints make the use of specialized sample handling, preparation, extraction, and analysis necessary. The ability to determine the concentrations of this new explosive compound in environmental matrices is helpful in understanding the environmental fate and effects of CL-20; understanding the physical, chemical, and biological fate of CL-20; and can be used in developing remediation technologies and determining their efficiency. The toxicity and mobility of new explosives in soil and groundwater are also of interest, and analytical techniques for quantitating CL-20 and its degradation products in soil and natural waters make these investigations possible.

The effects of grinding methods on metals concentrations in soil.

Multi-increment sampling (MIS) has been most extensively used for munitions constituents at environmental sites where a high degree of contaminant heterogeneity exits. A revised method (USEPA Method 8330B) for explosives that uses MIS was announced in the fall of 2006, but similar guidance has not been reported for testing metals in soils. Questions have been raised as how to prepare representative analytical samples for metals determination from field composites. Three different grinding procedures were used in this study for three soil types to determine if grinding (relative to homogenizing soil without grinding) increases metal concentrations and decreases variability. The performance of these procedures was demonstrated via the analysis of replicates (n=16 for two soil types) using statistical evaluations that included calculations of various descriptive statistics (e.g., medians, means and standard deviations), Kruskal-Wallis (KW) tests for the medians and two tests for the variances (Bartlett's and Levene's test). There was a slight increase in concentrations for several of the metals in the clay loam soil after grinding, although the increases were a small percentage of the concentrations measured. The standard deviations (and variances) for replicate digestions and analyses generally decreased, although anomalies were observed. The grinding methods increased precision overall, however, the data indicated that the roller mill grinding was not as effective as the other grinding methods tested.