Global economic development and the associated increase in consumption increase the demand for plastics. The result of these changes is the increase in the share of this group of used plastics in the structure of household waste. An innovative way of managing plastic waste is to use it as a component of a high-energy material. According to the conceptual assumptions, some plastics introduced into the structure of an explosive (Ex) in appropriate amounts can improve the energy parameters of a high-energy material. Modification of the composition of the explosive causes a change in its explosive and operational parameters. It also becomes necessary to develop a method of introducing an additional component. Computer programs for thermodynamic calculations are a tool for modeling the predicted energy parameters of an explosive. The performed simulations and modeling allow for the selection of appropriate compositions for laboratory and “in situ” tests. This reduces the number of field tests performed. This enables the more effective design of new explosive compositions. The use of waste plastics as a corrector of explosive properties may also be pro-environmental in nature through the use of a detonation method of their disposal and will reduce the cost of manufacturing the product. The conducted analyses showed that for three ANFO-type explosives containing 2% polyethylene—PE 2.0, 1% polypropylene—PP 1.0 and 1% polyurethane—PU 1.0, obtained energy parameters similar to ANFO and qualitatively and quantitatively similar structure of post-detonation gases.
Characteristic land forms, so-called fairy circles, are associated with surface hydrogen emissions. Two such structures located in the Lublin Voivodship (approximately 30 km east of Lublin, Poland) were selected for soil gas studies (radon content and molecular composition). This is an area where hydrogen generation could potentially occur due to the high content of highly thermally transformed organic matter (e.g., in the Lower Silurian formations). Moreover, the area is located near the Teisseyre-Tornquist zone, which is strongly cut by faults that could represent potential routes for hydrogen migration to the surface. The radon content was measured using a RAD7 from Durridge. Soil air samples were analyzed for molecular composition using Agilent 7890A gas chromatographs equipped with flame ionization (FID), thermal conductivity (TCD), and flame photometric (FPD) detectors. Measurements were taken at 24 points for the larger of the selected structures, marked with the letter W. Radon concentrations ranged from 0 to 10,873.6 Bq/m3. Measurements for 9 points were taken for the second of the selected structures, marked with the letter F. Radon contents ranged from 271.6 to 1169.5 Bq/m3. Analyses of radon contents show that potential pathways of gas migration to the surface occur not in the fairy circle structure itself but at the boundary and nearby. Molecular composition analyses of the soil gas reveal elevated methane and carbon dioxide contents. Hydrogen contents differentiate the two formations. For the W structure, hydrogen occurs in only two samples at low concentrations, while for the F formation, it was identified in four samples at markedly higher concentrations (from 108 to 314 ppm).