Degradation of high energetic and insensitive munitions compounds by Fe/Cu bimetal reduction

Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Julius Pavlov, Jacqueline Fawcett, David Strickland, Benjamin Smolinski, Washington Braida

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

94 Scopus citations

Abstract

A reductive technology based on a completely mixed two-phase reactor (bimetallic particles and aqueous stream) was developed for the treatment of aqueous effluents contaminated with nitramines and nitro-substituted energetic materials. Experimental degradation studies were performed using solutions of three high energetics (RDX, HMX, TNT) and three insensitive-munitions components (NTO, NQ, DNAN). The study shows that, on laboratory scale, these energetic compounds are easily degraded in solution by suspensions of bimetallic particles (Fe/Ni and Fe/Cu) prepared by electro-less deposition. The type of bimetal pair (Fe/Cu or Fe/Ni) does not appear to affect the degradation kinetics of RDX, HMX, and TNT. The degradation of all components followed apparent first-order kinetics. The half-lives of all compounds except NTO were under 10. min. Additional parameters affectingthe degradation processes were solids loading and initial pH.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-81
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume219-220
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jun 2012

Keywords

  • Bimetal
  • DNAN
  • Degradation reduction
  • Energetics
  • HMX
  • Munitions
  • NQ
  • NTO
  • RDX
  • TNT

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