A pilot program has shown that feeding molasses to bacteria in TNT-contaminated soil could be a simple and cost-effective alternative for cleanup projects across the country.
This work, sponsored by the U.S. Army Environmental Center, is part of the agency's mission to provide Army facilities with less costly clean-up options.
The pilot program was conducted at the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. The plant produced a toxic, explosive chemical used in a wide variety of weapons, from the 1940s through the 1960s.
TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) is usually found in the top few of meters of soil. The first step in the clean-up process was to excavate the soil by hand, using garden-type screens. The screening removes rocks and other large particles, leaving only small particles of TNT in the soil. Next, the soil was added to water, creating a slurry which was sent to processing tanks called bioreactors.
Molasses was added to the bioreactors twice a week and served as food for several species of bacteria that occur naturally in the soil. As the bacteria feed on the molasses and grow, they also consume the TNT -- even though they can't use TNT as their only food source.
"Molasses has all sorts of things that micro-organisms like -- sugars, proteins, amino acids," said Argonne researcher John Manning (ER). "The bacteria grow 10 times faster with molasses than without it."
Working with Manning on the remediation project are Raj Boopathy, Bob Breyfogle, Mark Fuller (all ER) and Al Schneider (PFS-CS).
Argonne researchers operated four bioreactors at the Joliet location, each with a working volume of 300 gallons. The slurry in the reactors was 85 percent water and 15 percent soil by weight. Each week 10 to 20 percent of the volume of the slurry in the reactors was replaced with fresh slurry.
The slurry that was removed was separated into water and soil. The water was treated, and for now, the cleaned soil is stored in drums. Nearly 13,000 pounds of soil were processed during the demonstration.
The $4.5 million pilot-scale demonstration was funded by the U.S. Army, which is considering using the process for cleaning up other ammunition sites and plants. If used for future site clean-ups, the technique will be on a much larger scale with tanks holding 20,000 to 40,000 gallons.
Bioremediation -- the use of micro-organisms to remediate sites contaminated with hazardous waste -- is becoming an increasingly popular environmental clean-up technique. It was successfully used in 1989 to help remediate the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and it is now being used by petroleum companies to deal with petroleum contamination at gas stations and petroleum distribution facilities. Much of the technology being used was developed at federal research institutions such as Argonne.
-- Donna Jones Pelkie
Volunteers will present the Junior Achievement program to children in every class level. Each curriculum package includes an age-appropriate, tested set of exercises easy for any adult to present.
Any employee is eligible to volunteer to attend between five and six classroom sessions in Oakwood, Bromberek, or Central schools in Lemont over a two-month period.
Information sessions are:
* Tuesday, Oct. 22, 1:30 p.m.., Argonne-East Bldg. 362 Auditorium
* Thursday, Oct. 24, 10:30 a.m., Building 900, Room J-01
* Thursday, Oct. 24, 1:30 p.m., Building 203 Auditorium
For more information, call Carol Przyzycki (DEP) at 2-5448 or Sam Bowen (DEP) at 2-3228.
The Procurement Department of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer has moved away from rigid "Federal Norm" purchasing practices, resulting in commercial lead-time reductions of six to four calendar days, while subcontract lead-times for awards in excess of $100,000 dropped from an average of 75 calendar days to 38 calendar days.
According to the Procurement Manager Dennis E. Bugielski, these achievements resulted from constant teamwork by employees from the Procurement and Legal departments, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne Office.
"We have overall goals to provide procurement customers with timely, cost-effective acquisition support," Bugielski said, "And our people do a fantastic job of identifying and eliminating unnecessary steps. I am confident we will continue to improve the quality and timeliness of our support."
One of those improvements will be the Procurement And Requisition Integrated System (PARIS).
PARIS is a single, integrated software upgrade initiative designed to eliminate five different databases currently supporting procurement operations.
One of the greatest advantages to PARIS is that it will allow customer access to requisition status information through a single system. "Procurement customers will also be able to automatically track requisitions that are routed internally within their respective divisions," said Barry Miller, Procurement Services Manager.
PARIS is expected to take nine to twelve months to roll out across the entire Laboratory. When complete, Accounts Payable, Receiving, Procurement and division personnel will all have a single database to manage procurements.
Another initiative implemented by the Procurement Department is "The PRO Shop," the Procurement Department's Home Page on the Internet.
The Pro Shop incorporates simple query capabilities for Procurement Department customers obtaining status information on automated and subcontract
requisitions. The page includes information, tools and assistance for customers.
The web page also includes standard customer and supplier forms, reference documents, recycled procurement material information, customer survey results, AMOS contract listings, and past copies of The Procurement Communique.
Coinciding with these database and systems improvements are policy and procedure streamlining efforts undertaken by the Procurement Department. The 97 Procurement Procedures and 23 Procurement Policies -- 630 pages of rules and guidelines -- have been reduced to 12 chapters and less than 300 pages under this initiative.
Bugielski is confident that these changes, along with other Procurement Department initiatives, will substantially improve customer support and procurement operations throughout the Laboratory.
Marv Wesely, Richard Eagan and Richard Hart were commended by ARM Program Director Peter W. Lunn for their efforts in designing and testing instruments and systems used in the latest climate data collection station, on Manus Island in the southern Pacific Ocean.
Wesely and Hart helped select and acquire instruments that will collect data on solar and terrestrial radiation, cloud properties and other meteorological data, and provided expertise for their operation. Eagan helped integrate the instruments and computers that collect data, and monitor and control the instruments. These efforts were made in support of team activities on instrumentation and data management at several laboratories.
The Manus Island site is the latest of three "Cloud and Radiation Testbed" sites. The first site, in Oklahoma, became operational in 1992. Another, on the north slope of Alaska, is under development.
Data collected from the sites will be used to refine models of global climate. Better modeling will allow more accurate weather forecasting and research into global climate change caused by human activities.
Bands can play a short set in any style, from rock to polka, as long as they contain at least one Argonne employee. The favorite group from each party will meet in a showdown in the spring.
Dates and the number of parties will be determined by the number of responses. Those interested should call Dennis Sullivan at ext. 2-5225.
Rehearsals will begin Tuesday, Oct. 29, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Dining Room B of Argonne-East's Building 213 Cafeteria. All new and former members who would like to sing are invited to attend.
Those interested should call Harry Bell (PFS-DR) at 2-7092 or Ervina Scott (PFS-FPE) at 2-2580.
Sweatshirts cost $15, coffee mugs are $6, thermal mugs are $5, and T-shirts for adults are $8. Youth T-shirts are $6.
The seminar is for Argonne-West employees interested in contributing story ideas to Argonne News and improving coverage of the Idaho site's employees and research in the newsletter.
The one-hour, informal meeting will be held in the L&O Building conference room at 3 p.m.
Employees should watch their mail for more information in this vein from the Medical Department. Flyers with scheduling and appointment information are being distributed to all employees.
The seminar will take place in Argonne-East's Building 362 auditorium and will be presented by Douglas Breunlin, a marital and family therapist with more than 20 years of experience. Breunlin also is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Family Institute and an associate professor in counseling psychology at Northwestern University .
Breunlin's presentation will focus on what values are significant to families and will explain how participants can apply them to their own families. All Argonne and DOE employees and their families are invited to attend.
The next Family Series seminar will be "Mothers and Daughters: From Adolescence to Adulthood" on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
This manual was developed for the control of construction, environmental restoration, and environmental clean-up projects, but it is applicable to all projects managed by Argonne.
The on-line version of the manual features complete keyword search capability and timely updates. Any part of the on-line version can be printed out, if necessary.
"Those who feel comfortable with the use of the electronic version of the manual are encouraged to remove their names from the distribution list, " said Rab Malhotra, who chairs the Project Management Task Group. "This will save the laboratory money and natural resources, too." For more information, please call extension 2-6484.
Monday, Oct. 21
Energy Technology Division Seminar: "Foaming and Foam in Industrial Application" by Yung Liu (ET). 9:45 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.
IPNS Division Seminar: "A New High Speed Production Process for Collated Magazine - A Chance for Scientists to Help Out" by James Flannery, Director of System Development and Apply Technology, Time Inc., New York. 11 a.m., Bldg. 360, Conference Room L119.
Chemistry Division Monday Morning Seminar Series: "Some Recent Studies in Tetratiafulvalene Chemistry: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks" by Michael Cava, Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 11 a.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.
Physics Division Seminar: "Probing the Neutron Spin Structure" by Dirk deSchepper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. 3:30 p.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room R150.
Tuesday, Oct. 22
Physics Division Atomic Physics Seminar: "Auger-Electron - Ion Coincidence Measurements of Argon to Investigate the L23-MM Auger Spectrum After 1s Ionization" by Uwe Alkemper, Physikaliches Institut, Universität Bonn, Germany. 11 a.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room R150.
Materials Science Division Seminar: "Molecular Dynamics Simulations - The Quick Way Towards the Structure of Disordered Materials" by John Kieffer, Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana. 11 a.m., Bldg. 223, Conference Room S105.
Fall 1996 ACCA Biology Seminar Series: "Size and Shape in Systematic Biology" by Richard Jensen, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame. 7 p.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.
Fall 1996 ACCA Chemistry Seminar Series: "Butyrylcholinesterase: A New Treatment of Cocaine Overdose" by Chris Bryant, Centeon, LLC, King of Prussia, Pa. 7 p.m., Bldg. 223 Auditorium.
Fall 1996 ACCA Computer Science Seminar Series: "Professional Ethics" by Netiva Caftori, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. 7 p.m., Bldg. 221, Conference Room A216.
Wednesday, Oct. 23
Materials Science Division Seminar: "High Temperature Alloy Development: The Oxidation Resistance Perspective" by Bruce Pint, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge,Tenn. 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.
Thursday, Oct. 24
Joint Chemical Technology Division & Materials Science Division Seminar: "Experimental and Theoretical Approach to Studies of Surface Oxides at Noble-Metal Electrodes" by Gregory Jerkiewicz, Department of Chemistry, University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 205, Y-Auditorium.
Joint Chemistry and Materials Science Divisions Seminar: "Metastable Excitation of Sputtered Silver Atoms" by Andreas Wucher, Fachbereich Physik, Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany. 1:30 p.m., Bldg. 200, Conference Room J183.
Physics Division Theoretical Physics Seminar: "The qq Interaction in the Wilson Loop Approach" by Nora Brambilla, University of Milan, Italy, 3 p.m., Bldg. 203, Conference Room B221.
Experimental Facilities Division Seminar: "Accurate Measurement of Electron Polarization" by Timothy Gay, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. 4 p.m., Bldg. 432, B open area, Section 6.
Friday, Oct. 25
Argonne-West Technical Seminar: "Critical Heat Flux Modeling for TRIGA Reactors" by Cris Eberle, (ED). 9 a.m., L&O Conference Room.
Physics Division Colloquium: "Research with Radioactive Beams at TRIUMF" by John D'Auria, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada. 11 a.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.
Monday, Oct. 28
Energy Technology Division Seminar: "Shell Model of Soap Froth" by K.Y. Szeto, Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 9:45 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.
Chemistry Division Monday Morning Seminar Series: "Chemistry in the Personal Care Industry" by Kathleen A. Martin, Helene Curtis, Inc., Rolling Meadows, Ill. 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.
Wednesday, Oct. 30
Materials Science Division Seminar: "Synchrotron Techniques in Interface Materials Electrochemistry and Corrosion" by Carlos Melendres, (CTD & MSD). 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.
Friday, Nov. 1
Joint Materials Science Division & Experimental Facilities Division Seminar: "The Unpredictability of Alkali Metal Overlayers" by Renee Diehl, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University. l:30 p.m., Bldg. 223, Conference Room L119.
- 30 -
Story ideas, comments and suggestions are welcome. The Argonne News office is in Building 201, room 2Q-02 (OPA-201). The fax number is ext. 2-5274. Send E-mail to Argonne News editor Dave Jacque.
Seminar listings: Send by inter-office mail to Evie Fagan, Building 201, room 2U-09 (OPA-201). Fax to ext. 2-5274, or send by E-mail.
Classified ads: Please limit ads to 25 words. Send by inter-office mail to Evelyn Fagan, Building 201, room 2U-09 (OPA-201). A drop box is located at the Argonne News office.
Classified Ads sent by electronic mail cannot be accepted!
This page has been accessed * times since Sept. 25, 1996.