Abstract : The effects of a variety of environmental factors on the fate of TNT in soils was determined. Soxhlet extraction with acetone was found to efficiently recover TNT and its transformation products from soil. HPLC-coupled radio-activity detection was effective for quantifying the various transformation products from complex soil extracts. The initial concentration of TNT had the greatest effect on extraction efficiency, with highest recoveries of 14C-labelled material in the tubes with the highest initial concentration of TNT. Conversely, the highest percent of unextractable or bound material resided in tubes with the lowest initial concentration of TNT, where microbial activity was also highest. Of the environmental factors evaluated, the initial concentration of TNT had the greatest overall effect on the rates of transformation. These results, when extrapolated to potential scenarios such as lagoon entombments, would indicate that the more concentrated the TNT, the fewer the organisms, the colder the temperature, and the dryer the soil the longer the TNT will remain in an unchanged state. Originator supplied keywords include: Contamination; Wastes; Environmental hazards; Toxic wastes.
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