Solid-phase considerations for the environmental fate of nitrobenzene and triazine munition constituents in soil

This paper focuses on the chemistry of DoD-relevant organic contaminants in soil. Most of the work presented here is based on the author’s experience with the environmental fate of the munition constituents, TNT and RDX, for DoD related issues. The principles and challenges of understanding the transport of nitrobenzene and triazine compounds in the environment are captured. In this work, disparities in the current scientific literature with respect to the construction of sorption experiments are discussed, in terms of soil sample handling, dispersion state of the soil, and sorption hysteresis/equilibrium. Here is discussed the concept of environmentally formulated compounds and its implications toward reduced accuracy of predicting the environmental fate of munition constituents. Also, further research linking simple but oft-forgotten basic concepts of soil fertility to the transport and environmental fate of munition constituents are discussed.