Composting of Explosives-Contaminated Soil Technology

Abstract
A conceptual level development of the use of composting technology for the treatment of explosives-contaminated lagoon sediments has been conducted. Previous investigations of the technical aspects of explosives composting, including recent USATHAMA field demonstrations have indicated that composting can significatly reduce explosives contaminant levels. Conceptual level facility design, construction and operating requirements for implementation of composting have been developed based on the current level of knowledge with respect to the technical and regulatory aspects of the process. The economics of the process has been evaluated to include the economic sensitivity of the process to various design and operating variables. This evaluation is based on the areated static pile method. It does not include mechanical or in-vessel composting since they have not been tested with explosive-contaminated soil. Based upon present field demonstration data, implementation of composting for explosive-contaminated soil would likely prove to be expensive. However, further evaluation of compost mixture soil ratio, amendment costs, process kinetics, and performance criteria result in significant economic improvements.

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