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Industry Perspective · 2026
By
, Research & Reference Desk
August 13, 2026
Photo: Makenzie Leonard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
TL;DR
Weapons manufacturing, testing and live-fire training have left TNT, RDX, HMX and related munitions constituents in soil at military installations across North America, at former manufacturing areas, washout lagoons, demolition areas and training ranges.
The challenge is twofold: locate and safely manage unexploded ordnance and other explosive hazards, then determine and address what remains chemically in the soil.
Thermal treatment has a documented military precedent. EPA records rotary-kiln treatment of explosives-contaminated soils, and federal reviews report organic explosive contaminants reduced below analytical detection levels with sufficient temperature and residence time.
Mobile thermal systems bring controlled industrial treatment to the source material, keeping the hazard under site control and reducing long-distance movement of contaminated soil.
Nelson Environmental Remediation proposes permanent liability elimination for energetics-impacted military sites through mobile, controlled thermal destruction. By integrating precise site characterization with scalable, mobile treatment infrastructure, Nelson projects the removal of explosive contaminants from the environment, ensuring sites are returned to a safe, usable state.
Decades of weapons manufacturing, testing and live-fire training have left a complicated environmental legacy at military installations across North America.
Explosives and propellants can leave chemical residues in soil, including TNT, RDX and HMX, along with degradation products and other munitions constituents. At former manufacturing areas, washout lagoons, demolition areas and training ranges, those residues can remain in the environment long after the original military activity has ended.
Research sponsored by Canada's Department of National Defence describes how energetic compounds deposited on military ranges can dissolve in precipitation, interact with soil and migrate through the subsurface toward groundwater (NRC Publications Archive).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency similarly identifies energetic residues and metals as important munitions constituents at military training ranges and former open-burn and open-detonation areas (HERO).
For defence organizations responsible for large portfolios of active and former military land, the challenge is therefore twofold.
The first is physical: locate and safely manage unexploded ordnance and other explosive hazards.
The second is chemical: determine what remains in the soil after the immediate explosive hazard has been removed.
TNT, RDX and HMX have been among the most significant energetic compounds associated with military contamination.
Historical U.S. Army investigations found TNT frequently in explosives-contaminated soils, while RDX, HMX and several TNT-related compounds were also detected. Wastewater lagoons associated with ammunition processing were found to contain combinations of TNT, RDX, HMX, tetryl, DNT compounds and other nitroaromatics (EPA NEPIS).
Some bind more strongly to soil. Others are sufficiently mobile that groundwater becomes an important concern. Canadian research involving National Research Council Canada scientists and sponsored by DND has specifically examined the fate and transport of munitions constituents because energetic compounds deposited at live-fire ranges can move beyond the original surface source area (NRC Publications Archive).
This makes characterization critical.
A military site may contain discrete areas of highly contaminated soil, diffuse range residues, metals, propellant compounds and groundwater impacts within the same property. Before any thermal treatment programme is designed, the site must be characterized and explosive hazards appropriately addressed.
Controlled thermal destruction is a strategy for the permanent elimination of soil liability.
The use of heat to address explosives-contaminated material has a substantial history within the U.S. defence environmental programme.
EPA's Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable describes rotary-kiln thermal treatment specifically for explosives-contaminated soils. In the documented military configuration, soil enters a rotating primary chamber where heat destroys organic constituents. The historical operating ranges cited by the EPA are approximately 316°C to 427°C for the soil, with hotter gases in the primary chamber. Off-gases subsequently pass through secondary combustion and air-pollution-control systems (US EPA).
Heat is used to separate and decompose the energetic organic compounds, while the resulting gases are subjected to controlled secondary treatment.
The U.S. Army's experience demonstrates that the approach can achieve very low residual concentrations. An EPA handbook reviewing federal explosives-site remediation reported that, given sufficient temperature and residence time, incineration commonly reduced organic explosive contaminants to below analytical detection levels. Historical liability-elimination criteria at several Army ammunition plants targeted non-detect or very low residual concentrations for TNT, RDX, HMX and related compounds (EPA NEPIS).
The National Academies also documents thermal remedies across the military portfolio. Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant used incineration for explosives-contaminated soil. Savanna Army Depot used high-temperature thermal treatment and incineration of TNT-contaminated sediment. Iowa Army Ammunition Plant included low-temperature thermal desorption among its remedies (National Academies Press).
That history matters because it establishes thermal treatment as more than a laboratory proposition for energetics-contaminated soil.
Historically, one of the drawbacks of thermal treatment has been the infrastructure required to deploy it.
An EPA review of Army experience identified mobilization and demobilization costs, equipment scale, noise, emissions management and safety planning among the considerations associated with incineration. The same review emphasized the effectiveness and demonstrated success of thermal destruction (EPA NEPIS).
Modern mobile thermal systems create a different deployment model.
Nelson Environmental proposes applying mobile thermal remediation technology to bring treatment infrastructure to contaminated material rather than make long-distance transportation of contaminated soil the default solution. In the proposed process, impacted soil would be heated in a rotary thermal system, organic contaminants would be driven from the soil, and the contaminant-bearing gas stream would be subjected to high-temperature oxidation before treated soil is verified. The published operating specifications are on the Capabilities page.
Military installations can be remote. Some remain operational while remediation occurs. Others contain large volumes of impacted material for which repeated truck movements create logistical, safety and community concerns.
A transportable treatment plant allows the remediation system to be deployed closer to the source material. That can reduce the movement of contaminated soil beyond the controlled site and create the possibility of treating large volumes within the installation itself.
It also aligns with a fundamental principle of defence-site remediation: maintain control of the hazard.
Energetic compounds are thermally reactive by definition, but effective remediation cannot be reduced to simply heating contaminated soil.
Research demonstrates thermal decomposition of TNT, RDX and HMX, while studies of HMX show decomposition reactions occurring well below the operating temperatures historically reported for military rotary-kiln soil treatment (Cambridge University Press).
Destroying the original compound is only one part of a properly engineered treatment system.
A 2025 study examining thermal decomposition of TNT and RDX in defence-range soil detected gaseous decomposition products including nitrogen-containing compounds, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide under experimental conditions (ScienceDirect).
That reinforces why controlled off-gas treatment matters.
The liability-elimination objective is to manage the complete treatment pathway, from controlled heating through destruction of liberated organic compounds and management of particulates and other emissions.
Historical military thermal systems therefore incorporated secondary combustion chambers and downstream air-pollution controls rather than treating soil heating as an isolated process (US EPA).
Explosives-impacted military sites rarely present one contaminant in one medium.
Metals can accompany energetics. UXO may be present. Groundwater may already have been affected. Debris can complicate soil handling. The Army's own historical experience noted that explosives-contaminated soil could contain debris or pieces of energetic material requiring removal before thermal processing, while metals such as lead could require separate management of the treated solid material (EPA NEPIS).
For DoD and DND sites, thermal destruction should therefore be considered as a critical component of a broader liability-elimination train.
That begins with characterization and explosives-safety clearance. Soil can then be excavated, screened and prepared under an approved material-handling plan. Appropriate soil fractions can undergo controlled thermal treatment, followed by analytical verification against project-specific criteria. Metals, groundwater or other contaminants requiring different technologies can be addressed separately. The contaminant profile behind this work is set out on the munitions and energetics contaminant page.
The result is a remediation strategy built around the actual contaminant profile rather than forcing an entire site through one technology.
The equipment referenced in this proposed application is the same mobile thermal platform Nelson Environmental operates on hydrocarbon and industrial soil projects. Technical specifications, throughput ranges and emissions-control configuration are set out on the indirect thermal desorption technology page, with secondary combustion detail on the thermal oxidiser page, and the wider service scope on the capabilities overview.
The scale of the defence environmental legacy makes a distinction between cleanup and finality essential. The U.S. Army's environmental restoration programme exists not only to address historical contamination but to return military land to usable condition and support continuing readiness. The same long-term principle applies whether the site remains an active installation or is ultimately transferred to another use: the objective is to protect the future by eliminating the liabilities of the past.
For TNT-, RDX-, HMX- and other energetics-impacted soils, decades of military and environmental research demonstrate that controlled thermal destruction belongs among the primary technologies available for achieving permanent finality. Mobile thermal treatment brings a controlled industrial system to the source, managing the contaminant through the complete thermal pathway, verifying the outcome, and reducing the logistical risk of moving original liability.
For a strategic review of how mobile, controlled thermal systems could apply to a site's liability profile, contact Nelson Environmental Remediation for a consultation.
FAQ
Which contaminants are treated at explosives-impacted military sites?
Is thermal treatment proven for explosives-contaminated soil?
Why does mobile thermal treatment matter at military installations?
Is heating the soil enough on its own?
How does thermal treatment fit alongside UXO clearance?Thermal destruction sits downstream of explosives safety work. Characterization and explosives-safety clearance come first. Soil is then excavated, screened and prepared under an approved material-handling plan, since explosives-contaminated soil can contain debris or pieces of energetic material requiring removal before processing. Appropriate soil fractions undergo controlled thermal treatment, followed by analytical verification against project criteria. Metals, groundwater or other contaminants requiring different technologies are addressed separately.
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The core energetic compounds are TNT, RDX and HMX, together with degradation products, tetryl, DNT compounds and other nitroaromatics. Propellant residues and metals are frequently present in the same soil, particularly at washout lagoons, demolition areas, former manufacturing areas and live-fire training ranges. Historical U.S. Army investigations found TNT most frequently in explosives-contaminated soils, with RDX, HMX and TNT-related compounds also detected.
Yes. EPA's Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable documents rotary-kiln thermal treatment for explosives-contaminated soils, with historical operating ranges of approximately 316 to 427 degrees Celsius for the soil and hotter gases in the primary chamber, followed by secondary combustion and air-pollution control. An EPA handbook reviewing federal explosives-site remediation reported that with sufficient temperature and residence time, organic explosive contaminants were commonly reduced below analytical detection levels. The National Academies documents thermal remedies at Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, Savanna Army Depot and Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.
Military installations can be remote, many remain operational during remediation, and large volumes of impacted soil make repeated truck movements a logistical, safety and community concern. A transportable treatment plant brings the system to the source material, reduces movement of contaminated soil beyond the controlled site, and keeps the hazard under site control. Nelson Environmental proposes applying mobile thermal remediation technology to heat impacted soil in a rotary thermal system, drive organic contaminants from the soil, oxidise the contaminant-bearing gas stream at high temperature, and verify the treated soil.
No. Destroying the parent compound is one part of a properly engineered system. A 2025 study of thermal decomposition of TNT and RDX in defence-range soil detected gaseous decomposition products including nitrogen-containing compounds, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide under experimental conditions. That is why historical military thermal systems incorporated secondary combustion chambers and downstream air-pollution controls, and why the treatment objective covers the complete pathway from controlled heating through destruction of liberated organics and management of particulates and emissions.