CHARACTERIZATION OF INSOLUBLE FRACTIONS OF TNT TRANSFORMED BY COMPOSTING

Soil contaminated with explosives was supplemented with carbon-14 labe lled 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (C-14-TNT) and was composted in a field sta tic pile composting experiment. After 90 d of composting, the distribu tion of carbon-14 (C-14) activity in fractions from acetonitrile extra ction (''free'' fraction, 1.2% of the initial C-14-activity) and filtr ation (''insoluble - particle'' fraction, 17.9%), alkaline hydrolysis (''insoluble hydrolyzable'' fraction, 56.8%), and combustion of the re sidue (''insoluble nonhydrolyzable'' fraction, 4.7%) showed that the b ulk of the C-14-activity, and presumably transformed product(s) of the C-14-TNT, accumulated in a nonextractable, but hydrolyzable fraction. Repetitive aqueous leaching of the compost and also ultraviolet light irradiation followed by leaching suggest that the insoluble fraction of transformed TNT should not be released appreciably by the action of acid rain or sunlight.