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Stable Isotope Tools for Tracking In Situ Degradation Processes of Military Energetic Compounds

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Book cover Biological Remediation of Explosive Residues

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ENVSCIENCE))

Abstract

Military energetic compounds are common environmental pollutants, contaminating soils and water worldwide. In situ microbial degradation of these compounds may be a positive process that reduces their concentration in the environment without any active human involvement. Nevertheless, assessing the extent of biodegradation processes in situ is challenging, and often cannot be achieved with satisfactory sensitivity using conventional methods. Isotope methods, on the other hand, may be a suitable alternative for assessing these processes. This chapter will focus on the application of compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) to study the fate of military energetic compounds in the subsurface, focusing on nitroaromatics, nitramines, and perchlorate. CSIA can also be used to provide an intrinsic mechanistic understanding of the transformation reactions of such compounds and this aspect will be described as well.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in part, by grant 167/2008 from the Israel Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, 50250, Bet Dagan, Israel

    Anat Bernstein

  2. Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhey Israel Street, 95501, Jerusalem, Israel

    Faina Gelman

  3. Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Negev, Israel

    Zeev Ronen

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  1. Anat Bernstein
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  2. Faina Gelman
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Correspondence to Zeev Ronen .

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  1. Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR - National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Shree Nath Singh

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Bernstein, A., Gelman, F., Ronen, Z. (2014). Stable Isotope Tools for Tracking In Situ Degradation Processes of Military Energetic Compounds. In: Singh, S. (eds) Biological Remediation of Explosive Residues. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01083-0_12

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