[CPEO-MEF] Non-perchlorate flare research

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Pyrotechnic flares containing perchlorate oxidizers are suspected as a
source of perchlorate groundwater contamination at infantry training
areas such as the Aberdeen Proving Ground's Camp Stanton. Furthermore,
when they combust as designed, perchlorate flares generate hydrogen
chloride (HCl), which combines with water to form hydrochloric acid.

The military is actually doing something about it. Researchers at the
Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, funded by the Defense Department's
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), are
evaluating alternative fuels, including some that use Mechanical
Alloying Technology. According to a poster presentation at SERDP's
December 2002 Partners in Environmental Technology symposium, "This
novel approach allows for the creation of fuel particles which combust
to generate metal oxides, ultrafine reactive metal droplets, and the hot
combustion gases needed to disperse them." The new fuels, if they prove
practical, will not only reduce HCl and perchlorate releases, but they
"may also result in pyrotechnic formulations with lower levels of other
environmentally objectionable ingredients ..."

Lenny
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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