On-site gas chromatographic determination of explosives in soils

On-site determination of nitroaromatic and nitramine residues in soils was performed using a field-portable gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with a the rmionic ionization detector selective for compounds with nitro functional g roups. Soil samples were extracted with acetone. A 1-mul volume of the filt ered extract was manually injected into the GC, allowing for the rapid dete rmination of the suite of explosives that often coexist in explosives-conta minated soils at military training facilities and other defense-related sit es. Good agreement was established for the concentrations of several explos ives when results obtained using this method of analysis were compared with those from either high-performance liquid chromatography (Method 8330) or GC electron capture (Method 8095) analysis. Comparisons were performed for sample extracts and for soil subsample replicates distributed for on-site a nalysis during a field verification test performed under the auspices of th e U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology Verificat ion Program. This on-site GC method for the determination of explosives res idues in soils is well suited for dynamic site characterization activities. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.