Potential for Composting Energetic Material Production Wastes

摘要

U.S. Army installations that manufacture munitions generate large quantities ofenergetic material (EM) and solid waste contaminated with energetic material (energetic material-contaminated waste, or EMCW). Disposal of EM and EMCW by open burning or open detonation (OB/OD) has been the practice for many years, but increasingly stringent environmental regulations are curtailing OB/OD operations. Although composting has been used in some instances for explosive-contaminated soils, it has not been examined for use with munitions production wastes. A literature search showed that many explosives are biodegradable and that some explosive-contaminated soils can also be treated by composting. A potential exists to treat munition production wastes by composting or other biological treatment processes. This study concluded that further investigation is needed to determine and test: (1) the energetic compounds that can be biodegraded, and (2) the conditions under which biological treatment processes can occur. jg p3.