Bench-Scale Investigation of Composting for Remediation of Explosives-Contaminated Soils from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana

The production and handling of conventional munitions have resulted in the generation of explosives-contaminated soils at various military installations. The principal explosive contaminants are 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene TNT, hexahydro- 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine RDX, and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7- tetrazocine HMX. The Naval Surface Warfare Center NSWC, Crane, Indiana, provides material and logistic support to the Navys weapon systems, including expendable and nonexpendable ordnance items. As the complexity of weapons increased, the facility became more involved in the technical aspects of weaponry through the development of test methods, procedures, and equipment, while the facilitys basic mission remained the same. Because of the potential for groundwater contamination, and the subsequent migration of explosives, treatment of the explosive-contaminated soils at several sites at the NSWC is necessary to protect the environment and avoid costly actions in the future. Incineration and composting are demonstrated technologies for the remediation of explosives-contaminated soils. However, incineration is publicly undesirable and economically infeasible for remediation of small sites. Composting was the selected technology to be evaluated for the remediation of the explosives-contaminated soils at NSWC.