NETL’s researchers will showcase the Lab’s work to identify and address the nation’s greatest energy, environmental and economic challenges during the 2022 Resource Sustainability Project Review Meeting, scheduled for Oct. 25-27 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Among the presentations scheduled is “Predicting Pollutant Generation in the Subsurface to Inform Produced Wastewater Remediation and Reuse,” which focuses on determining when and where toxic pollutants are generated during hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and other fossil energy sources. Researchers replicated simplified subsurface geochemical conditions in the laboratory and observed chemical reactions that can generate toxic pollutants.

It was found that the presence of iron is a key factor in pollutant generation. The presence of various states of iron in the brine causes halogenation reactions that generate pollutants in the water.

“These results will help inform which wastewater treatment procedures should be implemented to enable beneficial reuse of fracturing produced water,” NETL Researcher Lauren Burrows said. “Responsible water management is becoming increasingly important as the country begins to shift its focus towards decarbonizing the energy industry because many decarbonization methods are water intensive.”

Other scheduled NETL presentations include:

• Carbon Ore Processing focusing on developing value-added carbon products that cover a spectrum of applications, ranging from high volume to high value. Carbon products can benefit various economic sectors, including construction, aerospace, energy storage, and additive manufacturing. Active research areas include building materials, carbon fibers, graphite, nanomaterials, and more.
• Critical Minerals Sustainability to develop separation technologies and process operating systems that will provide an economically competitive and sustainable domestic supply of rare earth elements and critical minerals from coal and coal byproducts, as well as coal wastes and remediation materials, to assist in maintaining our nation’s economic growth and national security.
• Methane Hydrates to integrate field, laboratory and modeling studies to confirm the nature and quantity of the resource and develop and test technologies for its safe production. The program aims to harness the vast energy stored in methane hydrate reservoirs.
• Upstream Research focusing on fundamental science, enabling technologies and field-based validation mechanisms to accelerate the development of technology solutions and new sources of data to industry, academia and the public.
• Mid-Stream development of tools and technologies to improve the resiliency and flexibility of natural gas pipeline system components, to monitor, prevent and repair leakage throughout midstream infrastructure, and to capture and utilize natural gas that would be otherwise vented or flared, reducing the loss of valuable resources.
• Offshore Oil and Gas to innovate solutions to solve the challenges associated with geohazard prediction, subsurface uncertainty reduction, oil and gas infrastructure integrity and optimization for new and existing infrastructure systems.

The 2022 Resource Sustainability Project Review Meeting open to the public and includes a registration fee. Find more information, including how to register here.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.