ABSTRACT
Soils from the Department of Energy’s Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas were examined for biological removal of nitroaromatic contaminants, principally RDX. Bench-scale reactors were used to test treatability of soil slurries, water extracts of soil contaminants, and reagent nitroaromatic solutions. Results of these and numerous control reactors were analyzed to determine: relative differences in the rates of RDX desorption and transformation; extent and rate of biotransformation under aerobic, nitrate-reducing, sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic conditions; and effect of TNT on RDX bioconversion.
