Microbial Degradation of RDX and HMX

摘要

The present SERDP funded project (CU1213) responds directly to the original SERDP statement of need (CUSON-01-05) to address the cleanup of the two powerful and widely used explosives hexahydro-1,3,5- trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and octahydro-1,3,5,7- tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX). Both of these cyclic nitramine explosives are used extensively by the military and they are released to the environment during manufacturing, testing and training, demilitarization and open burning/open detonation (OB/OD). Such activities lead to the contamination of surface and subsurface soil. Also, because of their solubility (50 mg/L and 5 mg/L for RDX and HMX at 25 C, respectively) in water and their weak binding affinity for soil, both RDX and HMX migrate through subsurface soil and cause groundwater contamination. One of the most recent examples is the well-publicized contamination of the aquifer at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod. Cyclic nitramine explosives are toxic to aquatic organisms (Sunahara et al., 1999; Talmage et al., 1999), earthworms (Robidoux et al., 2000, 2001), mammals (Talmage et al., 1999) and human monocytes (Bruns-Nagel et al., 1999), and above all, they are also carcinogenic. The toxicity of cyclic nitramines necessitates that contaminated soil and groundwater be remediated using cost effective and environmentally safe processes such as bioremediation. Incineration is not a desirable remediation option because of high costs and hazardous emissions.