Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Explosives--Biodegradation; Explosives--Environmental aspects; Soil pollution; Water--Pollution; Academic theses;
Abstract
As a result of munitions manufacturing and decommissioning, explosive compounds have contaminated groundwater and soils at many sites throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Three of the most commonly occurring explosive contaminants are TNT, ROX, and HMX. Many processes, biological as well as physical, have been developed to remediate the contaminated material. But feasibility studies rarely take into account the three contaminants at once. We chose four of the technologies used to remediate explosives-contaminated water and studied comparatively their effectiveness and efficiency in degrading TNT, ROX, and HMX in solution at their maximal solubilities. The chosen technologies were bacterial and fungal degradation, photocatalysis and ozonation coupled with near ultraviolet (UV) radiation. A fifth technology, electrochemical peroxidation, was chosen, which never has been utilized to degrade explosives. For the biological processes, we used two commercially available bacterial consortia and a white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, that has been widely studied with regard to TNT degradation. Photocatalysis and near UV ozonation of the explosives in solution were performed using a fluorescent lamp instead of a UV lamp. We also studied the degradation of a dye, Crystal Violet, using near UV ozonation and the electrochemical treatment. This compound is less resistant to degradation. All experiments were carried out over 5 days, except for electrochemical peroxidation, as it is a much faster process. In all experiments, TNT was degraded more quickly and more extensively than ROX. Similarly, RDX was degraded more quickly and more extensively than HMX. Except for the biological degradation of TNT, the biological processes did not achieve complete degradation of the explosives over the 5-day period. The physical processes did. However, the latter are much more energy demanding, and therefore more costly. Thus, eventual implementation on a full-scale of any of these processes would depend on the treatment goals for TNT, RDX, and HMX at a given site ( e.g., time constraint or extent of removal). Electrochemical peroxidation is an innovative process which destroys contaminants at a much faster rate (a matter of hours). Moreover, it is not as energy demanding as the other two oxidation processes. Nonetheless, further study is necessary to know if this is a promising technology suitable for remediation of explosives-contaminated water.
Year of Submission
1999
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Department of Chemistry
First Advisor
John A. Bumpus
Second Advisor
Duane E. Bartak
Third Advisor
Ira M. Simet
Date Original
1999
Object Description
1 PDF file (69 leaves)
Copyright
©1999 Stéphane Debost
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Debost, Stéphane, "Degradation of Explosives in Solution Using Bacteria, a Fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium), Titanium Dioxide, Ozone, and Electrochemical Peroxidation" (1999). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2464.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2464
Comments
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