Development of a Simplified Field Method for the Determination of TNT in Soil.

摘要

A simple field method was developed for determining the concentration of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in soil. The method involves extraction of the soil with acetone, generation of the red-colored Jackson-Meisenheimer anion by addition of potassium hydroxide and sodium sulfite, and measurement of color intensity at 540 nm using a battery-operated spectrophotometer. The extraction step recovered a mean of 96% of the TNT recoverable by a more exhaustive laboratory extraction procedure. A comparison was made of concentration estimates from the field method with those from the standard RP-HPLC laboratory procedure using a set of field-contaminated soils. The method was field tested at Umatilla Army Depot and found to provide a simple, rapid method for estimating TNT concentrations in the field. Concentration estimates from field analysis correlated well with laboratory analyses of the same samples.