Innovative Technology Evaluation Program, Camp Edwards, Massachusetts: Part 1—Soil Treatability Studies

Live-fire training activity dating from around 1941 to 1997 resulted in the deposition of spent munitions, propellants, and explosives in impact-area soils at the Camp Edwards Training Ranges on the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Resulting contaminants of concern, including RDX, HMX, TNT, and 2,4-DNT, are found in particulate form and are heterogeneously dispersed in the soil. An Innovative Technology Evaluation (ITE) Program was initiated by the Army National Guard in March 2000 to investigate the potential for remediation of these soils. Remediation technologies chosen for the ITE program to address this problem included soil washing, low-temperature thermal destruction (LTTD), composting, solid-phase bioremediation, bioslurry, chemical oxidation, and chemical reduction. The soil washing process was shown in field trials to reduce the volume of soil requiring further treatment by 75 percent. All technologies were effective on soils that had been treated using soil washing. LTTD, solid-phase bioremediation, and bioslurry were effective on untreated soil, while composting was less effective, and chemical reduction and oxidation were not tested on untreated soils. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.*