Bioremediation of High Explosives

Manufacture and use of high explosives has resulted in contamination of ground water and soils throughout the world. The use of biological methods for remediation of high explosives contamination has received considerable attention in recent years. Biodegradation is most easily studied using organisms in liquid cultures. Thus, the amount of explosive that can be degraded in liquid culture is quite small. However, these experiments are useful for gathering basic information about the biochemical pathways of biodegradation, identifying appropriate organisms and obtaining rates of degradation. The authors` laboratory has investigated all three major areas of explosives bioremediation: explosives in solution, explosives in soil, and the disposal of bulk explosives from demilitarization operations. They investigated the three explosives most commonly used in modern high explosive formulations: 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)

Integrated chemical/biological treatment of paint stripper mixed waste: Metals toxicity and separation

The DOE complex has generated vast quantities of complex heterogeneous mixed wastes. Paint stripper waste (PSW) is a complex waste that arose from decontamination and decommissioning activities. It contains paint stripper, cheesecloth, cellulose-based paints with Pb and Cr, and suspect Pu. Los Alamos National Laboratory has 150--200 barrels of PSW and other national laboratories such as Rocky Flats Plant have many more barrels of heterogeneous waste. Few technologies exist that can treat this complex waste. Our approach to solving this problem is the integration of two established technologies: biodegradation and metals chelation