Form Approved
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
OMB No. 0704-0188
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1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank)
2. REPORT DATE
3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED
August 1999
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
5. FUNDING NUMBERS
On-Site Method for Measuring Nitroaromatic and Nitramine Explosives
WU: AF25-CT-006
in Soil and Groundwater Using GC-NPD: Feasibility Study
6. AUTHORS
Alan D. Hewitt and Thomas F. Jenkins
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
REPORT NUMBER
Special Report 99-9
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
72 Lyme Road
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-1290
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
10. SPONSORING/MONITORING
AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
U.S. Army Environmental Center
Office of the Chief of
Aberdeen Proving Ground
Engineers
SFIM-AEC-ET-CR-99044
Maryland 21010-5401
Washington, DC 20314-1000
11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Available from NTIS, Springfield, Virginia 22161
13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)
An on-site method has been developed for estimating concentrations of TNT, RDX, 2,4-DNT, and the two most
commonly encountered environmental transformation products of TNT, 2-amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene and 4-amino-
2,6-dinitrotoluene, in soil and groundwater using gas chromatography and the nitrogen-phosphorus detector
(NPD). Soil samples (20 g) are extracted by shaking with 20 mL of acetone, and extracts are filtered through a
Millex SR (0.5-m) filter. Groundwater samples (1 L) were passed through SDB-RPS extraction disks that were
subsequently extracted with 5 mL of acetone. A 1-L volume of a soil or water extract is manually injected into a
field-transportable gas chromatograph equipped with a NPD and a heated injection port. Separations are con-
ducted on a Restek Crossbond 100% dimethyl polysiloxane column, 6 m 0.53-mm i.d., 1.5 mm, using nitrogen
carrier gas at 9.5 mL/min. Retention times range from 3.0 min. for 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) to 5.6 min. for 2-
amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene. Method detection limits were less than 0.16 mg/kg for soil and less than 1.0 g/L for
groundwater. One of the major advantages of this method, over currently available colorimetric and enzyme
immunoassay on-site methods, is the ability to quantify individual target analytes that often coexist in soils and
groundwater contaminated with explosive residues. This method will be particularly useful at military antitank
firing ranges where it is necessary to quantify residual concentrations of RDX in the presence of high concentra-
tions of HMX, and when the transformation products of TNT need to be identified.
14. SUBJECT TERMS
15. NUMBER OF PAGES
On-site analysis
22
Gas chromatography
TNT
16. PRICE CODE
Nitrogen-phosphorus detectors
17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT
OF REPORT
OF THIS PAGE
OF ABSTRACT
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UL
Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)
NSN 7540-01-280-5500
Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18
298-102
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