U Pathways in Acetate-Amended Sediments

In a recent article published by the NAS, a team of ESD investigators headed by ESD’s John Bargar present results from an in situ study of uranium redox transitions occurring in aquifer sediments under sulfate-reducing conditions.

Janet Jansson and “Earth’s Dark Matter”

In an editorial in the most recent (Feb. 2013) edition of Nature, ESD’s Janet Jansson poses the following question: Can omics “provide insight into microbial ecology that cannot be achieved using traditional methods?”

On modeling the potential impacts of CO2 sequestration on shallow groundwater: Transport of organics and co-injected H2S by supercritical CO2 to shallow aquifers

Proper site selection for CO2 geologic storage requires assessing the impact of potential leakage of CO2 from deep subsurface reservoirs to overlying drinking water aquifers

Functionalizing bacterial cell surfaces with a phage protein

Functionalization of bacterial cell surfaces has the potential to introduce new activities by chemical modification. ESD’s Harry Beller, Steve Singer, and others show that a bacteriophage–receptor complex can be used to functionalize the surface of two Gram-negative proteobacteria, Escherichia coli and Ralstonia eutropha with CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles.

Dissolution kinetics and mechanisms at dolomite-water interfaces: Effects of electrolyte-specific ionic strength

Elucidating dissolution kinetics and mechanisms at carbonate mineral–water interfaces is essential to many environmental and geochemical processes, including geologic CO2 sequestration in deep aquifers.

What's the flux? Unraveling how CO2 fluxes from trees reflect underlying physiological processes

Tree stems and branches emit carbon dioxide (CO2) at rates that per unit area can rival emissions from leaves or the soil surface and summed over a forest stand can comprise 14–30% of the total CO2 efflux

Evaluating ion exchange resin efficiency and oxidative capacity for the separation of uranium(IV) and uranium(VI)

Previous methods for separating dissolved U(IV) from dissolved U(VI) under acidic anoxic conditions prior to laboratory analysis were ineffective with materials currently available commercially. ESD’s Jim Davis was recently part of an investigative team that examined three strong anion exchange resins for their efficiency in separating, recovering, and preserving both redox states during separation.

Biochemical production of ethanol and fatty acid ethyl esters from switchgrass: analysis of environmental and economic performance

In a recent study, ESD’s Harry Beller and others analyzed processes that could produce either ethanol or a representative fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) via the fermentation of sugars liberated from lignocellulosic materials pretreated in acid or alkaline environments are analyzed in terms of economic and environmental metrics.

Laboratory seismic monitoring of supercritical CO2 flooding in sandstone cores using the Split Hopkinson Resonant Bar technique with concurrent x-ray CT imaging

ESD’s Seiji Nakagawa led a team of investigators (including ESD’s Tim Kneafsey, Tom Daley, and Barry Freifeld) in conducting laboratory measurements of the seismic properties of sandstones during supercritical CO2 injection.

Metabolic phenotyping of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 engineered for production of alkanes and free fatty acids

Cyanobacteria, like algae and plants, can use solar power to capture CO2 via the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (CBB) cycle and convert it to a suite of organic compounds.