Method development for the analysis of nitrotoluenes, nitramines and other organic compounds in ammunition waste water

Gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography were used to determine explosives, their by- and degradation products near the former ammunition plant Elsnig in Saxony. Enrichment procedures using liquid/liquid- and solid-phase extraction, which have already been developed, were used to investigate ground and surface water samples. Mono-, di- and trinitrotoluenes as well as aminonitro- and chlorinated nitroaromatics were identified and quantified using GC/MS, the electron capture detector (ECD) and the nitrogen-phosphorus detector (NPD). Besides, some nitrophenols were identified in ground water. Additionally, RDX, which is hardly to be determined by GC, was quantified using high performance liquid chromatography. Identification was performed by the UV-spectra using a photodiode array detector.