Project Selections for FOA 2796: Water Research and Development for Oil and Gas Produced Water and Coal Combustion Residuals Wastewater Associated With Coal Power Plants (Round 2)

Characterization and Recovery of Rare Earth Elements/Elements of Interest in Coal Combustion Residual Wastewater and Solid Wastes Associated with Coal Power Generation — Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) intends to characterize rare earth elements and other elements of interest in coal combustion residuals wastewater and solid wastes associated with coal power generation as a function of coal type, coal combustion technologies, and air pollution control devices configurations. The project team will revise and streamline conventional procedures used to analyze rare earth elements and other elements of interest from power plant target sources. The secondary objective is to demonstrate one electrodialytic technology for potential recovery of rare earth elements and other elements of interest, thus helping enable beneficial use of coal combustion residuals wastewater and solid waste.

DOE Funding: $2,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $500,000
Total Value: $2,500,000
 

Scalable and Efficient Membrane Distillation and Adsorption Process for High-Purity Water and Lithium Recovery from Produced Water in New Mexico — New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, New Mexico) plans to comprehensively characterize produced water from the Permian and San Juan Basins in New Mexico and develop a scalable and highly efficient membrane distillation-crystallization and adsorption process for simultaneous water and critical elements recovery from produced water. Both bench- and pilot-scale membrane distillation-crystallization and adsorption units (1,000 gallons per day) will be developed and validated for produced water treatment.

DOE Funding: $1,499,951
Non-DOE Funding: $375,025
Total Value: $1,874,976
 

Strategic Management and Resource Recovery Transformation (SMAR2T): Recovery of Water and Elements of Interest from Produced Water Using Intensified Membrane Distillation and Metal Extraction — Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) intends to develop a system engineering approach for produced water resource extraction and management in oil and gas operations. The team intends to (1) test a cascade treatment approach involving vacuum membrane distillation integrated with vapor compression to extract water, (2) selectively recover elements (metals) of interest using staged precipitation, (3) develop an optimization framework for managing produced water and identifying infrastructure needs using software and a techno-economic approach and (4) engage with stakeholders, members and students of under-represented groups, state agencies and members of the oil and gas sector to promote workforce development and community involvement as the project tackles produced water challenges.

DOE Funding: $1,499,993
Non-DOE Funding: $696,848
Total Value: $2,196,841
 

Characterizing and Recovering Valuable Elements and Minerals from Produced Water in Oklahoma (OK-CARVER) — University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma) intends to sample produced waters; determine their chemistry; determine their concentrations in terms of rare earth elements, critical minerals, and/or elements of interest; and engineer their extraction technologies. The project team plans to develop geoscience and engineering solutions for the recovery of valuable elements and minerals from produced water, thereby promoting sustainable resource utilization.

DOE Funding: $1,499,390
Non-DOE Funding: $500,000
Total Value: $1,999,390
 

Valuable mineral recovery and alternative utilization of produced water through a novel process — Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia) plans to develop a process for achieving three beneficial uses of produced water, including valuable mineral recovery, carbon fixation, and irrigation water production. The process consists of five major steps: (1) produced water treatment; (2) rare earth elements and critical metals recovery; (3) direct lithium recovery; (4) carbon mineralization; and (5) phyto-microbial treatment. Bench-scale experimental tests will be conducted to optimize each step of the process. In addition, the project will establish a pre-pilot circuit to continuously test the process and collect critical information for testing at larger scales.

DOE Funding: $1,500,000
Non-DOE Funding: $375,001
Total Value: $1,875,001