Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Managing Soil and Water Contamination Using Innovative Predictive and Remediative Treatment Techniques (SIP)
EPA Grant Number: R829422E01Title: Managing Soil and Water Contamination Using Innovative Predictive and Remediative Treatment Techniques (SIP)
Investigators: Shea, Patrick J.
Institution: University of Nebraska at Lincoln
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: August 5, 2002 through August 4, 2004 (Extended to August 4, 2005)
Project Amount: $17,400
RFA: EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: EPSCoR (The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research)
Objective:
The objectives of this Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) were to: (1) form a unique clustering of multidisciplinary expertise that is strongly competitive for funding; (2) increase interactions between science and engineering; (3) increase the visibility and recognition of the University of Nebraska as an active contributor to the growing area of environmental remediation and restoration; (4) attract graduate and undergraduate students; and (5) promote technology transfer for environmentally responsible economic development in Nebraska and the region.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
We have strengthened and expanded collaborations among University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty in Natural Resources, Chemistry, Physics, and Civil Engineering. We were successful in obtaining 4 years of Nebraska Research Initiative funding for a project (Building Surface Analysis into a New University Infrastructure in Environmental Science) that complements and extends the EPA-supported project. The principal investigators for the project include P.J. Shea (Natural Resources), M.A. Langell (Chemistry), P.D. Burrow (Physics), S.D. Comfort (Natural Resources), and T.C. Zhang (Civil Engineering). Dr. Comfort received a federal earmark award for major field-scale demonstrations, entitled Environmental Remediation at the University of Nebraska: Inexpensive Solutions to Soil and Ground Water Cleanup, and has initiated the project. Dr. Comfort also received additional funding from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program for his project with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for dithionite treatment of munitions-contaminated ground water, and had contracts through Sandia National Laboratory and BWXT Pantex for permanganate and ozone treatment of munitions contamination.
A campus visit and seminar by Dr. Yul Roh, a Biogeochemist from the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, provided expertise and research guidance to our science and engineering faculty and students. Dr. Roh’s seminar, Environmental Mineralogy: Reactive Iron Barriers and Biomineralization, described how advances in environmental mineralogy expand its boundary as a multidisciplinary science and underscore its importance in understanding biogeochemical processes. Dr. Roh summarized studies on remediation of uranium- and trichloroethylene-contaminated ground water using reactive zerovalent iron barriers and explained how biomineralization processes can be used in material synthesis and carbon sequestration processes. Dr. Jang-Eok Kim, an Environmental Biochemist from Kungpook National University (Korea), gave a seminar on research with oxidoreductase enzymes in remediation and completed a 1-year sabbatical with Dr. Shea. Much of his sabbatical research focused on enhancing Fe0 performance and the use of graphite as a catalyst for redox reactions in protocols for remediating contaminated water and soil.
Dr. Shea gave an invited presentation at the Joint U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/Hazardous Substance Research Center (HSRC) Conference on Pesticides in the Environment in August 2002, and a seminar for the University of Nebraska Water Resources Seminar Series in March 2003. Dr. Zhang gave an oral presentation at a Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Grant Seminar for EPA Region 7 and the National Center for Environmental Research in August 2003. Dr. Comfort gave an invited presentation on remediation treatment strategies in South Korea (May 2005), and an invited seminar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (August 2005). Dr. Comfort published a book chapter on remediation of RDX and HMX, and Dr. Shea collaborated with two scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences in a review of the use of activated carbon for soil bioremediation, to be published shortly. Additional volunteered oral and poster presentations at professional meetings and conferences further increased the visibility and recognition of research and education activities in this area. Presentations are continuing beyond the project period.
Civil Engineering and Physics postdoctoral students, three Natural Resources Ph.D. students, a Civil Engineering Ph.D. and an M.S. student, an Environmental Toxicology M.S. student, and an undergraduate in Physics were supported in part or were affiliated with this project. A new undergraduate specialization encompassing environmental remediation and restoration within the natural resources major is under discussion.
Technology transfer was accomplished through presentations, publications, and our field research demonstration (see the final report for R829422E03). Although the project period has ended, research (initially funded through the Nebraska Research Initiative), presentations, and publications are continuing.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 6 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
cleanup, restoration, environmental chemistry, physics, engineering, contaminated aquifers, contaminated groundwater, hazardous waste, predictive understanding, reductive treatment, sediment treatment,, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Geographic Area, Waste, Ecology, Contaminated Sediments, Remediation, Environmental Chemistry, State, Ecology and Ecosystems, Environmental Engineering, sediment treatment, predictive understanding, contaminated sediment, remediation technologies, reductive treatment, contaminated soil, hazardous waste, zero valent iron, groundwater remediation, contaminated groundwater, ecology assessment models, contaminated aquifersProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.