Innovative Technology Development for Comprehensive Air Quality Characterization from Open Burning

Abstract

Abstract : U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Installations, especially demilitarization facilities and Army Ammunition Plants, have long used Open Burning/Open Detonation (OB/OD) as a safe, effective, and economic means to dispose of propellants, explosives, and waste military munitions. Work on WP-2153 included a field campaign to characterize air emissions from open burning (OB) in pans of three propellants (M31A1E1, M26 and SPCF) and static firing of Sparrow rocket motors (containing ammonium perchlorate (AP) composite propellant). An aerostat-lofted instrument package called the Flyer was used as the sampling platform. Continuous measurements of CO2 and CO, and batch samples for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), metals, HCl, perchlorate, chlorate, volatile organic compounds, and semi-volatile organic compounds allowed determination of emission factors. CO2 readings indicated that the Flyer was successfully maneuvered into 90-98% of the OB plumes from pan burning of the three different propellant types and 92% of the static firing plumes. The calculated emission factors in general were comparable to earlier results and literature values for similar propellant types. The resulting emission factors for PM10 and PM2.5 were very close suggesting that OB plumes generate mostly fine PM (PM2.5). No perchlorate and CO were detected for any of the propellants. Only a very limited number of static fire events were sampled and additional work is necessary to close material balances for Cl and Al in the AP propellant.