CALL FOR PAPERS

Environmental Distribution, Degradation, and Mobility of Explosives and Propellant Compounds
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Division of Environmental Chemistry
237th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting
March 22-26, 2009
Salt Lake City, UT

Decades of military activity has resulted in unforeseen environmental hazards from the deposition of ordnance related compounds (ORC) on training ranges or from marine dumping of ammunition stockpiles. ORC contaminants are released into the environment from active use of munitions (such as in the case of propellant compounds ammonium perchlorate and nitroglycerin), corrosion of unexploded munitions releasing explosive compounds such as TNT, RDX, and HMX, and “spraying” of ORC on land or water from low-order explosions due to a malfunction in the munition. Intensive research efforts over the last several years have focused on the environmental fate of ORC in terms of their solubility, sorption, degradation, and mobility in marine and terrestrial systems. Research has also focused on in-situ remediation technologies such as alkaline hydrolysis via electrolytic or heavy-metal redox-loop mechanisms and phytoremediation. This symposium will present research concerning both experimental and computational approaches for determining the environmental fate of ORC in the environment, and challenges yet remaining in incorporating chemical descriptions into predictive fate models. Remediation approaches based on the chemical mechanisms of ORC fate will also be discussed.

Presenters are required to submit a short abstract to the ACS by October 20, 2008, using the ACS online system (OASYS) at http://oasys.acs.org/. This division also requires an extended abstract of two or more pages that must be submitted via OASyS using the instructions posted on the web at http://envirofacs.org.

Symposium Organizer:

Mark Chappell, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Laboratory, 3909 Halls Ferry Rd, Vicksburg, MS 39180, Phone: (601) 634-2802, Fax: (601) 634-3410, Email: mark.a.chappell@usace.army.mil