Work

Quantifying removal and mineralization of nitrotriazolone in contrasting freshwater sediment systems using 13C and 15N stable isotope tracers

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The environmental fate of insensitive high explosive compound nitrotriazolone (NTO) has not been adequately studied in surface freshwater environments. The goal of this study was to evaluate and quantify removal and complete mineralization of NTO in distinct freshwater sediment systems. We conducted aquaria-scale experiments using four freshwater sediment types: low organic carbon (OC) river sand, low OC silt, high OC wetland sediment, high OC pond silt with and without submerged aquatic plants to investigate natural attenuation of NTO. Isotopically labelled NTO (13C and 15N) was added to the aquaria and time series aqueous and sediment samples were collected over three weeks. Aqueous NTO half-lives ranged from 6 to 63 days in the presence of sediments while no NTO loss from the aqueous phase was measured in the absence of sediment. There was complete loss of NTO within one month in pond silt and wetland sediment aquaria that had sediment organic content over 9% which appears to be threshold for accelerated NTO loss. Approximately 7% to 50% of the NTO loss led to complete mineralization and NTO mineralization half-lives ranged from 17 to 533 days, with shortest mineralization half-lives measured in the highest organic content wetland. There was good fidelity between the appearance of 13C tracer and 15N tracer in mineralization products providing high confidence that both tracers were quantifying complete mineralization. For NTO, increased sediment organic content corresponded to both faster rates of loss of NTO from overlying water and a higher fraction of that loss being completely mineralized.

Source: Chemosphere

DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144289

Authors: Thivanka Ariyarathna, Stephen Fallis, Matthew C. Davis, Craig Tobias

Institutions: University of Connecticut, Rowan University, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Chemistry and Analysis

Subfield: Environmental Chemistry

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Clean water and sanitation, Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,010