Cost Effective Treatment of Manufacturing Waste Streams to Remove Munitions Constituents

09/18/2025

Cost Effective Treatment of Manufacturing Waste Streams to Remove Munitions Constituents

This SERDP and ESTCP webinar will highlight two projects advancing treatment technologies for wastewater impacted by energetic materials. Presenters will discuss laboratory studies and field demonstrations of novel systems designed to address the growing complexity of wastewater streams produced throughout the munitions lifecycle from manufacturing to demilitarization.

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Abstracts

“Reactive Electrochemical Membrane Reactors for Electrochemical Degradation of Munitions Constituents in Manufacturing Wastewaters” by Dr. Brian Chaplin (ER19-1228)

This project evaluated the application of a reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) system to treat manufacturing wastewater containing legacy explosives, insensitive high explosives (IHEs), and perchlorate. The system uses a patented, conductive, porous ceramic electrode to degrade munitions constituents electrochemically in a continuous flow setup. The REM achieved over 99.99% destruction of IHEs in a three-stage process, demonstrating strong technical viability. For perchlorate, a rhenium-modified REM achieved over 99% selective reduction to chloride at neutral pH and maintained high performance over 374 hours of continuous operation. A preliminary life cycle assessment showed the REM system to be environmentally competitive with granular activated carbon, with opportunities for further improvements in efficiency and material reuse. Results indicate that the REM system is a scalable, adaptable solution for the electrochemical treatment of complex wastewater streams in environmental remediation. This innovative, scalable technology offers a promising solution to meet current and emerging DoD water treatment challenges.

“Membrane Bioreactor System for Cost Effective Treatment of Munitions Constituents Manufacturing Wastes” by Dr. Paul Hatzinger (ER19-1198)

The incorporation of IHEs into munitions has increased the complexity of energetic constituents in wastewater generated by manufacturing, load-assemble-pack (LAP), and demilitarization operations. This project aimed to develop and optimize a resilient treatment train for these wastewaters using a sequential anaerobic-aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR) system. The anaerobic MBR removes most of the key constituents, while the aerobic MBR polishes the effluent by degrading residual explosives and reducing total organic carbon and chemical oxygen demand. The sequential anaerobic-aerobic MBR system proved to be a viable option for treating a complex artificial mixture of traditional explosives, IHEs, and oxidants (RDX, HMX, TNT, HMX, DNAN, NTO, NQ, ClO₄^- and NO₃^-) as well as actual wastewater derived from LAP operations with IMX-104 (RDX, DNAN, NTO). A final sodium hypochlorite polishing step further improved effluent quality. This novel treatment approach is designed to meet DoD modernization goals for munitions and can be applied across the energetics lifecycle.

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Brian Chaplin is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is also the founder of Zyvant Research & Innovations, LLC. His research focuses on the development of advanced electrochemical and catalytic processes for water treatment, with a particular emphasis on technologies that enhance water sustainability. He has led DoD-funded projects to develop innovative electrochemical treatment technologies for remediation of munitions manufacturing wastewater and PFAS. Dr. Chaplin has been recognized with several prestigious awards including the 2015 National Science Foundation Early CAREER Development Award, the 2019 Environmental Science & Technology Early Career Scientist Award, and the 2018 Environmental Science & Technology Best Paper Award in Environmental Technology. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, and a doctoral degree in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Paul Hatzinger is the director of the Biotechnology Development and Applications group at APTIM. He has more than 27 years of experience in contaminant biodegradation, bioremediation, and forensics. His research group has been instrumental in the development and field application of new in situ and ex situ remedial approaches for a variety of contaminants of concern to the DoD including perchlorate, insensitive and traditional explosives, 1,2-dibromoethane, N-nitrosodimethylamine, and 1,4-dioxane. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and has served as the principal investigator on research grants from NSF, EPA, DOE, AFCEC, SERDP, ESTCP, US Navy, and USACE. He earned his doctoral degree in environmental toxicology from Cornell University.