Kinetics of the Alkaline Hydrolysis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene in Aqueous Solution and Highly Contaminated Soils

During the two World Wars, large amounts of TNT were released into the environment. Until today, high concentrations of TNT can be found in the soil of former ammunition plants. To obtain basic data for a novel treatment process for highly contaminated soils, the homogeneous aqueous hydrolysis of TNT in the pH range from 10 to 12 and the alkaline treatment of two contaminated soils at pH 11 and pH 12 were investigated. The experimental data were described for their respective pH values using a pseudo-first-order model. In the homogeneous experiments, 95−97% of the TNT was hydrolyzed. During alkaline hydrolysis, up to two nitrogoups per TNT molecule were released, indicating the irreversible destruction of TNT. Except for the formation of small traces of amino dinitrotoluenes and trinitrobenzenes, no nitroaromatic benzenes or toluenes were detected during GC analysis. For the less contaminated soil, ELBP2, with an initial TNT concentration of 116 mg/kg, a destruction of 99% was achieved. The highly contaminated soil, HTNT2 (16.1 g of TNT/kg), showed a hydrolyzation level of 90−94%. The results show that the alkaline treatment of highly contaminated soils may prove to be effective as an alternative treatment technology.