Funding

Unconventional oil and gas has become an increasingly significant industry in the United States, including in Kansas and West Virginia, motivating efforts to minimize the associated environmental impacts. Dr. Edward Peltier was awarded a NSF EPSCoR grant to study the treatment of produced water for beneficial reuse and safe disposal, and understand the impacts of oil and gas exploration on aquatic ecosystems.

Dr. Sturm has collaborated with Dr. Peltier to investigate the following:

• Ability of bacteria to form aerobic granular sludge (AGS) in hypersaline oilfield produced water.
• Developing a treatment process for the removal of organic BTEX hydrocarbons from oil and gas produced water.
• Developing a treatment process for the removal of sulfur compounds in produced water.

Research Team