BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF A MUNITIONS
MANUFACTURING FACILITY WASTEWATER
Leonard L. Smith, Senior Technical Engineer
Edgar Zeigler, Jr., Senior Technical Engineer
Hercules Incorporated
Radford Army Ammunition Plant
Radford, Virginia 24141
INTRODUCTION
Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RAAP) like most of the Army propellant and
explosive manufacturing plants   was built in the early 1940s to supply munitions for
World War II.   Since pollution abatement requirements were considerably less strict
then than at present, these plants could not meet current water quality standards.   Because of this, the Army is conducting extensive modernization and pollution abatement
programs at all of its ammunition plants.   The treatment of waste process waters from
these plants requires development of new or modification of existing technology because of the unique nature of the pollutants in the water.
In 1970 extensive laboratory bench-scale studies were initiated at RAAP on the various water streams to determine their chemical and physical make up, and the most
effective treatment methods.   These studies were funded through the U.S. Army Armament Research and Development Command.   Funding was also provided by the U.S.
Army Natick Research and Development Command and the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command, for the biological and physical chemical
phases of the studies.
WASTEWATER CHARACTERIZATION
Studies were conducted to determine which wastewaters could be discharged without
treatment, recycled, reused in another process area and which wastewaters required
pretreatment.   As a result of these studies a new wastewater collection system was designed for the separation and collection of the contaminated wastewaters from the various manufacturing areas.   The quantity of water requiring treatment was reduced from
25 mgd to a maximum of 2.5 mgd.   The principal contaminants in this wastewater are
ethyl alcohol, ether, acetone, with traces of nitroglycerin, and miscellaneous propellant
ingredients.   This wastewater is expected to fluctuate greatly in quantity and organic
loading over a period of time due to production rates and propellant formulation
changes.    Rapid fluctuations also occur because most of the manufacturing processes are
batch operations.
BIOLOGICAL PILOT PLANT EVALUATION (ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEM)
The biological pilot plant evaluation studies were initiated in 1975 to provide the
design criteria for the treatment of wastewater from propellant manufacturing operations,
and the pretreated wastewater from the nitroglycerin manufacturing areas.
The biological pilot plant utilized for this evaluation was originally constructed as a
biological denitrification pilot plant.   This pilot plant was modified to provide a storage
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