ERDC researchers receive award for teams

1 Feb 08 -- Vicksburg, MS -- Two ERDC researchers received 2007 Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) Project of the Year Awards during the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP)/ESTCP symposium and workshop in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4-6. 

Dr. Steve Larson, an inorganics researcher in ERDC-EL and Antonio Palazzo, a certified professional agronomist in ERDC-CRREL, accepted the awards for research their individual teams conducted in assisting the Department of Defense (DoD) with the cleanup of military munitions sites using environmentally friendly technology.

Larson’s team conducted field studies with “Grenade Range Management Using Lime to Transform Explosives,” at Fort Jackson, S.C.  The studies showed that the use of lime, a reactive, naturally occurring and abundant sedimentary rock, to live hand grenade ranges, would break down and contain the contaminants from munitions, or RDX and stop them from seeping into and polluting groundwater.

“The most important thing about receiving the award was it was a team-executed project.  I only accepted it because I was the team leader who wrote the original project proposal,” Larson said.  “This technology will sustain a realistic, productive training atmosphere for the Soldier and create a greener, protected environment.  And because of this technology, the contaminants (iron, manganese, chromium and vanadium) won’t go where we don’t want them to go – into our drinking water, streams and lakes.”

Because of the hazardous chemicals found in the environment from munitions, many military live-fire ranges have been shut down or training has been limited to dummy-only type work, which is not realistic for the warfighter, Larson said.

“We used hydrated lime that degrades RDX’s molecular ring.  When the ring is broken, RDX forms products that rapidly biodegrade.  Then, natural microbes in the soil continue to dissipate the biodegradable products and convert them into regular carbon dioxide through a process called mineralization,” he said.

According to Larson, the team will share its award-winning technology with Germany in order for both countries to improve the environment and prevent future munitions contamination.

Palazzo’s team also focused on environmentally friendly techniques while working with the “Implementation and Commercialization of New Germplasms for Use on Military Ranges.”  This project validated the use of vegetation or grasses that will sustain valuable topsoil on military training installations.

“The military mission requires that vegetation be as resilient as possible to training and at the same time meet environmental requirements,” Palazzo said.  “Using standard horticulture breeding techniques, our team developed new cultivars - or plants - and germplasms - or genes - that can withstand the rigors of military training.  The plant breeding studies are providing improved, more resilient native and introduced plants that establish themselves more rapidly and return the land more quickly to a state ready for military training,” he said.

Palazzo’s team conducted their field studies at Yakima Training Center, Fort Lewis, Wash., and at Fort Drum, N.Y., and Fort Carson, Colo.

“It is a great honor to receive this award for our team after so many years of research,” Palazzo said.  “The team includes Timothy Cary, a CRREL agronomist, and Dick Gebhart, an ERDC-CERL researcher.”

SERDP is the DoD environmental science and technology program that invests in basic research and bench-scale proof-of-principle efforts.  A sister program and co-sponsor of the symposium and workshop, ESTCP promotes innovative and cost-effective environmental technologies through demonstration and validation at DoD sites.