Characterization of Explosives Processing Waste Decomposition Due to Composting

摘要

Because at least 28 sites in the continental U.S. are contaminated withexplosives and the high costs of remediation by incineration ($2O0-300/ton) (1), the U.S. Army has investigated alternative technologies for soil and sediment remediation. Laboratory and pilot-scale studies have shown that composting can be a viable alternative to incineration (2-6). Subsequent field-scale static pile and mechanically stirred composting experiments conducted at Army sites have demonstrated that decontamination and detoxification of soils and sediments contaminated with explosives can be achieved on a relatively large scale (7-11). However, the projected costs for remediation by composting were not strongly competitive with those for incineration. More efficient composting technologies were sought in a subsequent field composting experiment (12). This study assesses the efficacy of aerated and nonaerated windrow composting for bioremediation of explosives-contaminated sediments, based on reductions in extractable and leachable explosives, extractable mutagenicity, and leachable toxicity. The efficiencies achieved in the previous static pile and mechanically stirred composting experiments (7-11) are compared with those obtained using windrow composting. PG 18. JMD.