Environmental monitoring approaches used during bioremediation of soils contaminated with hazardous explosive chemicals

• Published in: Trends in environmental analytical chemistry 2020-06, Vol.26, p.e00088, Article e00088
• Main Authors: Celin, S. Mary, Sahai, Sandeep, Kalsi, Anchita, Bhanot, Pallvi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biogeo-chemical factors; Explosive; Instrumental techniques; Molecular tools; Monitoring; Soil bioremediation
• ISSN: 2214-1588; 2214-1588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.teac.2020.e00088

•Environmental monitoring is a critical tool for evaluating soil bioremediation of explosives.•Biogeochemical factors influence the rate of bioremediation of explosives.•Soil physico-chemical and biological monitoring provide insight on degradation.•Chromatography and hyphenated analytical techniques useful for explosive analysis. Defense sites are contaminated with explosives, which are released during manufacturing, firing, testing and training operations; loading, assembly and packing activities; and demilitarization operations. Explosive chemicals are hazardous in nature. Contamination of the soil and the underlying groundwater by explosives pose serious threat to human and animal health and the eco-system. Bioremediation is an eco-friendly technology as it exploits nature’s own agents- the microbes in degrading the contaminant of interest. This waste treatment technology has been extensively studied for degrading the explosive pollutant. Environmental monitoring, a process of systematic collection of data and analysis is essential in performance evaluation of any waste treatment system. This paper gives a comprehensive overview on the environmental monitoring approaches used during bioremediation of explosives contaminated soil. Biogeochemical factors viz., presence and survivability of microbes, bioavailability of the contaminant, pH, temperature, moisture content, redox conditions, presence/addition of substrate and nutrients and presence of intermediates/co-contaminants in the soil environment that are reported to affect the bioremediation of explosives are highlighted. Details on physical, chemical and biological parameters monitored during bioremediation are included. Advancements in instrumental techniques are evolving rapidly and its application in bioremediation approaches promise an enhanced understanding of the mineralization of explosive in the soil environment. Recent developments in application of advanced analytical instrumentation techniques, future research insights with recommendations, which will illuminate the selection of appropriate monitoring tool for evaluating bioremediation are also summarized.