Technical Papers
Below are several papers regarding the use of EXPRAY for environmental work
Pre-Screening for Explosives Residues in Soil Prior to HPLC Analysis Utilizing Expray
This paper describes the use of EXPRAY for semi-quantitative analysis in soils.
The characterization of Department of Defense (DoD) training lands for explosives residues involves sampling and analyzing soil samples collected at firing points and impact areas. Laboratory instruments used for this analysis are susceptible to accumulating high concentrations of these compounds, thus possibly requiring reanalyzing. By using the Expray Explosives Detection Kit to determine the approximate concentration of explosives compounds prior to analysis, soil extracts can be diluted to a concentration that will not interfere with analysis results. This report describes the method used to develop the visual index for concentration determination of explosives in soil extracts, and also the use of the Expray Kit.
Guide for Characterization of Sites Contaminated with Energetic Materials
One consequence of the development, testing, and firing of ammunition is the potential contamination of test sites by high explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics. These energetic compounds pose particular environmental concerns because of their unusual chemical, physical, and toxicological properties. For this reason there is a need to scrutinize past and current defense activities to ensure that they have had no adverse effect upon the surrounding environment. The need for environmentally sound policies, especially within the context of base closures and demilitarization, makes studies of the environmental impact of munitions an increasingly important issue. Moreover, in the future the implementation of environmentally benign defense activities should be encouraged.
Description of the ues of EXPRAY can be found on page 49.
The high sample throughput and fast data turnaround possible with test kits can streamline not only site characterization programs, but also other aspects of the site restoration process. Remedial actions can be designed and optimized using more data points and without waiting for laboratory data.
To read about EXPRAY, turn to page 32
Sampling for Explosives Residues at Fort Greely Alaska
Impact areas are lands used by the army for ordnance testing and training. The impact areas of Fort Greely, Alaska, are located on lands withdrawn from the public domain under the Military Lands Withdrawal Act (PL 106-65). The Army has pledged to implement a program to identify possible munitions contamination and evaluate the potential for surface water and groundwater contamination. Because of the large size (85,042 acres) of the impact areas, characterization of the contamination levels will be difficult.
Explosives were characterized using field and laboratory methods. Field procedures were the colorimetric Methods 8515 (Colorimetric Screening Method for Trinitrotoluene [TNT] in Soil), which detects TNT and other nitroaromatics, and 8510 (Field Method for the Determination of RDX in Soil), which detects RDX and other nitramines plus nitrate esters (USEPA 1996a, 2000b). We also used the Expray kit to identify explosive compositions found in the field.
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Information on EXPRAY can be found on pages 14 and 31.
