Compost Bioremediation-An Effective Method for Remediation of Soil Contaminated with Trinitrotoluene (TNT)

摘要

Waste explosives are generated throughout their lifecycle. The waste energetic materials are subjected to disposal by various methods including open burning and open detonation, thermal processes, chemical processes, bioremediation, composting etc. However, efforts are being made across the globe to find out economically viable and ecofriendly process for disposal of waste energetic materials. Composting is found to be effective process especially for remediation of contaminated soil with explosives. Carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N), composition of bulking agent and incubation period play an important role in composting process. Compost bioremediation is the novel concept, which involves microorganisms of matured compost and found to be more effective in comparison to simple composting process. A very limited work has been reported in open literature on compost bioremediation of soil contaminated with TNT. In the present study optimization of compost composition and incubation period have been studied. Exhaustve data have been generated on rate of TNT degradation. The TNT degradation has been found 3 to 4 times faster than the conventional method reported for similar decomposition by composting.