Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and Its Transformation Products in Soils: A Review of the Sources, Detection, Behavior, Toxicity, and Remediation of Polluted Territories

• Published in: Eurasian soil science Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 210 - 225
• Main Authors: Koroleva, T. V., Semenkov, I. N., Lednev, S. A., Soldatova, O. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.02.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acidic soils; Alkaline soils; Analytical methods; Conservation of Soils; Degradation; Detection; Dimethylhydrazines; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecosystem components; Ecosystems; Evaporation; Falling; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Measurement methods; Oxidation; Peat; Peat soils; Pollution; Rehabilitation; Rocket launches; Sample preparation; Sediment pollution; Soil; Soil contamination; Soil pollution; Soil remediation; Soils; Species diversity; Toxicity; Transformations; Vehicles; Russia; Proton launch vehicle; soil contamination; human health risk assessment; rocket fuel; quality standards; organic pollutants
• ISSN: 1064-2293; 1556-195X
• DOI: 10.1134/S1064229322602001

Highlighting in the context of soils, we discuss the issues of ecological safety associated with the use of a synthetic highly toxic organic substance—unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH, codenamed Geptil); the domestic methods for measuring its mass fraction are compared, as well as the behavior and interaction with ecosystem components, and the current experience in soil remediation is summarized. Although UDMH has been long used, the analytical methods for its detection in soil are far from perfect and require further improvement. Because of a reverse synthesis of UDMH from its transformation products when using alkaline or acid hydrolysis during sample preparation, a reliable assessment of its transformation rate and the hazard for ecosystems and humans demands to consider the overall diversity of UDMH species in soils. The environmental pollution with UDMH during a normal operation of launch vehicles is currently negligible. However, large UDMH amounts can enter the ecosystems during launch vehicle accidents. The UDMH pollution is retained for at least last 10 years in acidic peat soils (Histosols) in the regular falling sites of the first stages of launch vehicles in the Arkhangelsk oblast (Russia) unlike the alkaline soils (Arenosols, Gypsisols, and Solonetz) in the falling sites of the separated stages in the Ulytau oblast (Kazakhstan), where the pollution is retained for less than 1 year thanks to rapid evaporation and transformation. The soil remediation techniques used in Russia can be grouped into thermal, sorption, biological, and others, some of which are based on the oxidation of UDMH with formation of numerous derivatives, the properties and toxicity of which are vague.