Jugnia, L.-B., D. Manno, S. Dodard, C.W. Greer, and M. Hendry.
Science of the Total Environment 676:368-377(2019)

Surficial application of waste glycerol (WG) for enhanced bioremediation was tested in situ at an old military range site to address RDX-contaminated groundwater. The treatment was effective in inducing strong reducing conditions (range: -4 to -205 mV) and increasing the concentrations of organic carbon (from 10 to 729 mg/L) and fatty acids (from 0 to 940 mg/L) concomitantly with a decrease in RDX concentrations (range: 17 to 143 µg/L) to below detection limits (0.1 µg/L) in 2 of the 3 monitoring wells evaluated. None of these changes were observed in the control well. RDX disappeared without the detection of any common anaerobic nitroso degradation intermediates, with the exception of one well where the organics concentration did not increase significantly (range: 10 to 20 mg/L), suggesting the conditions were not favorable for biodegradation. Ecotoxicological analysis indicated potential WG dose-related deleterious effects on different soil and aquatic receptors. Overall results at the site show that the WG treatment can provide an effective long-term, semi-passive remediation option for RDX-contaminated groundwater.