Distribution and migration characteristics of dinitrotoluene sulfonates (DNTs) in typical TNT production sites: Effects and health risk assessment

The production of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) produces a great deal of waste water, and dinitrotoluene sulfonates (DNTs) are the main pollutants in its waste. This paper presents a pilot investigation on the geochemical transformation of DNTs affected by historical wastewater spillage from a typical TNT production company in Northwest China. In the horizontal direction, DNTs diffused from the evaporation pond to the surrounding area of the site, and the concentration of DNTs in the evaporation pond surface soil exceeded 1000 mg/kg. The horizontal distribution of DNTs in the site showed a migration trend to the east and south of evaporation, which was consistent with the terrain of high northwest and low southeast of the site. Due to the high water solubility of pollutants, water flow is the main driving force for the horizontal distribution of DNTs. In the vertical direction, the concentration of pollutants gradually increased with the depth of the soil. DNTs are mainly adsorbed in the third layer (6.0?8.0 m). It can be seen that the accumulation of the 2,4-DNTs-3-SO3- is obviously larger than that of the 2,4-DNTs-5-SO3- , which may be related to the steric hindrance effect of sulfonic acid groups in the two isomers. Results showed DNTs distribution strongly linked to soil physicochemical properties and the migration of DNTs in soil exhibited obvious heterogeneity in time and space. The carcinogenic risks in surface soil (0?1.5 m) and lower soil (1.5?6.0 m, 6.0?8.0 m) are all higher than 1?10-6; non-carcinogenic risk surface soil (0?1.5 m) is 4.011?10, which is greater than 1, indicating that they may cause certain harm to the human body. Meanwhile, this study presented a pioneering investigation for the contamination and geochemical transfer of DNTs.

Automated summary

This study investigates the geochemical transformation of DNTs affected by historical wastewater spillage from a typical TNT production company in Northwest China. The distribution of DNTs in soil shows both horizontal and vertical patterns, with water flow as the main driving force for horizontal dispersion. The accumulation of DNTs in soil is strongly linked to soil physicochemical properties, posing potential risks to human health.