Pink water

O. Sanders and co-workers. Mechanism of Formation of Pink Water, ARLCD-TR-70025, ARDEC, Dover, N.J., 1978. 

USATHAMA) completed a trial burn of explosive, contaminated soil in a rotary kiln (Noland, 1984). Soil contaminated from red and pink water lagoons was successfully burned. A transportable rotary kiln yrstem was set up. The technology by Therm-All, Inc., had been used in industry for destruction of solid wastes. The normal screw feed system was not used, due to fear of a soil explosion during the extruded plug feed process. Therefore, the soil was placed in combustible buckets and individually fed by a ram into the incinerator. The feed rate was 300 to 400 Ib/hr and the operational temperature was 1200° to 1600°F in the kiln and 1600° to 2000°F in the secondary chamber. 

Activated carbon can be used to preclude the formation of pink water . Methods of reactivating the carbon are still under investigation... 

Basic Explosives Manufacture. The major quantities and the toughest problems are here. They include a) acid waters, treated with lime or soda ash, chemical washes, spills, washdowns b) Red Water from TNT purification. A complex, brick-red soln of Na nitrate, Na sulfate, Na sulfite, Na nitrite, and about 17% organics which include sulfonated nitrotoluene isomers and complex, unidentified dye-bodies c) dissolved expls, eg, Pink Water which is approx lOOppm TNT in w d) suspended expl particles — dust and chips and e) sometimes solvents such as acet, benz, and dimethyl aniline... 

Load/Assemble /Pack Operations (LAP). Small. Mostly floor washdowns and generally similar to Pink Water. They include a) dissolved expls b) dust and chips and c) heavy metals from paints and corrosion and metal cleaning. The washout of reject munitions at some LAP plants can contribute substantial additional effluents when washout operations are running... 

Red Water — which can be almost black at times - also contains dissolved TNT however, it is not an incidental stream like Pink Water it is a major by-product stream from TNT manuf. The mixed-acid nitration of toluene yields not only 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, the desired product, but also a host of other isomers and by-products amounting to approx 4.5% of the total yield and it is necessary to remove them from the product. They are removed by extraction with a Na sulfite—Na carbonate soln which sulfonates and dissolves them the extract is called Red Water. Red Water is a very complex and somewhat variable mixt containing 15% or so of sulfonated or sellited nitrobodies and a number of inorganic salts. Typical components are w, NajSOj—NaS04, NaN02— NaNOj, sulfonated or... 

Schaeffer s salt orgchem HOC oS03Na A light-yellow to pink, water-soluble powder the sodium salt formed from 2-naphthol-6-sulfonic acid used as an intermediate in synthesis of organic compounds. sha-forz, s6lt ... 

Smetana et al (Ref 1 IS) used a scheme previously developed for eliminating TNT from pink water to show that combined photolysis-ozonolysis effectively degrades RDX in aq solns to gaseous products. The photolytically active region is in the UV at 254,300 and 350nm wave lengths... 

The US Navy has also investigated the use of biodegradation for the disposal of TNT containing rinse w ( pink water ) (Ref 41). Likewise, the combined disposal in stabilization ponds of monomethyl hydrazine, nitrate and nitrite salts and nitrogen tetroxide waste liquors... 

Photolysis of aq solns of TNT, such as are obtained as wastes from munition plants, leads to the formation of pink water . There have been a number of studies made with the ultimate purpose of elucidating the chemistry involved in pink water formation. For general background on the photochemistry of TNT and related nitro compds, see Vol 8, P258-L to P262-L... 

Adsorption by activated carbon is commonly employed for the removal of TNT from aq waste streams, eg, pink water formed in shell-loading operations. Low efficiency in regeneration of the carbon for reuse has led to a study of the factors involved (Ref 99), with conclusions as follows. The TNT is adsorbed at many of the numerous high-energy sites on the surface of the carbon. Basic materials, introduced during activation of the carbon by combustion and oxidation and also present at these sites, then induce oxidation-reduction reactions of the methyl with the nitro groups in the TNT. This is... 

Murphy, Jr, Ultraviolet-Ozone and Ultraviolet-Oxidant Treatment of Pink Water , ARCLO-TR-78057, US Army ARRADCOM, Dover (1978) 38) J.D. Hoffsommer et al, Biodegradability of TNT A Three-Year Pilot Plant Study , NSWC/WOL-TR-77-136, Naval Surface Weap Cent, Silver Spring (1978) 39) D.F. Carpenter... 

Leitis JD. Zeff, UV-Ozonization of Organic Compounds in Water , paper presented at ACS mtg, Ind Engrg Chem Section, Honolulu (April 1-6, 1979). 42) F.C. Farrell, JD. Zeff, T.C. Crase D.T, Boylan, Development Effort to Design Pink Water Abatement Processes (no further info)... 

Toxicity of "Pink Water (Refs 20, 34 41). Exposure to sunlight or artificial ultraviolet radiation converts TNT in aq soln to a variety of photodecompn products (see article on TNT in this Vol). The colored photodegraded mixt, known as pink water , has a lower acute... 

G.W. Newell et al, Mammalian Toxicological Evaluations of TNT Wastewater ( Pink Water ) , Final Rept, Contract DAMD 17-74-C4115, Stanford Res Inst, Menlo Park, Ca (1976) (AD A044785) 21) N.R. Schneider et... 

Kaplan, L. A., Burlinson, N. E. and Sitzmann, M. E., Photochemistry of TNT Investigation of the Pink Water problem, Part II, Report NSWC/WOL/TR 75 152, Naval Surface Weapons Center White Oak Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD, 1975. 

NDCEE Pink Water Treatment Options National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence Pink Water Treatment Options, Technical Report, Contact No. DAAA21-93-C-0046,1995, pp. 1-42. 

Triphenylarsine oxide trisulphonic acid, (C6H4.S03H)gAs0, is isolated as the barium salt after heating triphenylarsine to boiling with sulphuric acid. The salt is a pale pink, water-soluble powder. 

General U.S. Army Pink water Vessel 6.5 Operating since General Atomics... 

General Atomics constructed a small commercial plant for the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Oklahoma, which has been operating since 2001. The plant processes pink water from explosives processing using General Atomics design. 

Explosives-contaminated waters are subdivided into two categories red water, which comes strictly from the manufacture of TNT and pink water, which includes any washwater associated with load, assemble, and pack operations or with the demilitarization of munitions involving contact with finished TNT. Despite their names, red and pink water cannot be identified by color. Both are clear when they emerge from their respective processes and subsequently turn pink, light red, dark red, or black when exposed to light. The chemical composition of pink water varies depending on the process from which it is derived red water has... 

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