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Siefert, Nicholas

Publications and source records attributed to Siefert, Nicholas.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) 26r Detailed Produced Water Compositions (version 1.0)

A database of geochemical compositions of aqueous species in produced water reported to the PA DEP. Samples were collected between mid-2012 to early-2020. Data from publicly-available PA DEP 26r reports were scraped from pdf files and cumulated into tabular spreadsheet format for >1000 produced water streams from Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania. In addition to providing the original values, the NETL NEWTS team has reformatted the dataset to allow sample streams to be easily copied into OLI Studio and Geochemist WorkBench (GWB) software for modeling the geochemistry and the recovery of critical minerals, such as lithium, from these produced water streams. In addition, a version of the dataset has been included with predictions for some missing values in the original dataset using machine learning techniques within CoDaRT software, a public ML software developed by the Nation Energy Technology Laboratory. We have made the Input into CoDaRT and one example output from CoDaRT available in this dataset.

Aqueous Chemistry

Treatment and Mineral Recovery from Combustion Residual Leachate and Produced Water

This talk presents the design of operationally flexible diafiltration membrane systems for Li/Co recovery, and applies robust optimization methodologies using these flexible systems to generate optimal designs immune to membrane manufacturing variability and uncertain process inlet conditions. The results highlight the use of robust optimization to find design strategies and insights that may reduce technical risks arising from model uncertainties.

Able, Chad

NEWTS Argonne Geothermal Geochemical Database with CoDART

A database of geochemical compositions of aqueous species in potential geothermal resources. The NETL NEWTS team has formatted the original Argonne V2 database for Charge Balance, Input into OLI Studio, and Input into GWB. (Geochemist WorkBench) In addition, some missing species in the original database were predicted using machine learning techniques within CoDart software, a public ML software developed by the Nation Energy Technology Laboratory. We have made the Input into CoDart and one example output from CoDart available in this dataset.

Aqueous Chemistry

National Energy Water Treatment and Speciation (NEWTS) Database & Dashboard

The Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management (DOE/FECM) through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has launched a free online tool, the National Energy Water Treatment and Speciation (NEWTS) Database and Dashboard, which can be utilized by community leaders and water researchers to better understand the composition of energy-related wastewater streams. The NEWTS Database and Dashboard provide public access to difficult-to-access datasets, including the original data sources and the processed data forms for input into aqueous chemistry modeling software. The data provided by the tool will help mitigate environmental risks and identify possible sources of valuable critical minerals (CM). The goal of this ASME Power presentation is to highlight the data and capabilities of this free online-tool for obtaining high quality water datasets in formats that are easy for modeling the treatment and recovery of valuable resources from effluent waste stream associated with energy operations.

Siefert, Nicholas

Estimating Lithium Fluxes from Produced Water: Marcellus Shale and Beyond

This talk summarizes the potential for critical minerals extraction from produced water and the current data constraints on making these evaluations. First, we present results from production simulations carried out using data from the Marcellus shale showing the lithium resource potential from this formation. Second, we broaden our estimations to show the critical mineral resource estimates from U.S. domestic shale operations. Lastly, we conclude with an overview of the NEWTS database and dashboard where we host the data used in our assessments.

Mackey, Justin

Constituent Data Replacement Tool

The purpose of this tool is to estimate key parameters that may be missing in public wastewater composition datasets. The tool can be applied to develop complete treatment and critical mineral extraction profiles for leachate, produced water and other aqueous waste streams. The tool applies machine learning algorithms to replace missing data in a user’s water data set that are adjusted based on user preferences for options including algorithm type, number of features, and classification variables. The tool can use the user’s data alone or combine user data with the NEWTS USGS Produced Water Database for more robust training. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) through National Energy Technology Laboratory’s ongoing research under the Water Management for Power System Field Work Proposal, DE-FECM 1022428 and Critical Minerals Field Work Proposal, DE-FECM 1022420.

Aqueous Chemistry

NEWTS Integrated Dataset (version 1.0)

The National Energy Water Treatment and Speciation (NEWTS) Integrated Dataset v1.0 provides water researchers, community leaders, and regulators with a unified and standardized energy-related wastewater stream database. This resource is derived from 27 state and federal entities, and scientific publications, and contains more than 400,000 sample records, many of which also provide geospatial information. The dataset includes data for several different energy-related wastewater types including produced water, other oil and gas wastewaters, mine drainage, coal ash leachate, and power plant wastewater. The NEWTS Integrated Dataset was built to support environmentally prudent decision-making, explore treatment opportunities, and identify potential critical mineral sources. A subset of this novel resource is also featured on NETL NEWTS State-Level Database Dashboard. Additional data can be found in the NEWTS EDX Group and the NEWTS Federal Database Dashboard.

abandoned mine drainage

NEWTS State-Level Database Dashboard

The National Energy Water Treatment and Speciation (NEWTS) State-Level Database Dashboard enables quick visualization and exploration of energy-related wastewater data collected from state environmental agencies and research projects across the United States. The dashboard features a subset of the NEWTS Integrated Dataset (version 1.0), which was built to provide stakeholders with a unified and standardized database to support wastewater treatment and critical minerals exploration. The full NEWTS Integrated Dataset and citations for the original data resources can be found here: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/newts-integrated-dataset-version-1-0

abandoned mine drainage

Co-treating flue gas desulfurized effluent and produced water enables novel waste management and recovery of critical minerals

Herein this study reports a novel approach of resource recovery from co-managing two geographically co-located and chemically complementary wastewaters using a pilot-scale treatment process. Designed to treat flue gas desulfurized (FGD) effluent from combustion powerplants and produced water (PW) from energy industries, the process consists of soda-ash softening, nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). Recovered products are barite, calcite, and low-salinity water. Using field-collected waters, the results show that softening at pH 8.5 produces calcite (yield: 30 kg/m 3 treated water), a chemical used as SO ₂(g) scrubbers. NF treatment under an applied pressure of 3.5 MPa yields a permeate stream laden with monovalent ions (water recovery 60%) and a concentrate stream with a sulfate concentration 1.8 times of the feedwater concentration. Mixing the NF concentrate and PW at a volumetric ratio of 1.0 precipitates a high-density barite material (4.1 g/cm 3 , yield: ~7.5 kg/m 3 mixture) – a critical mineral commonly used as a weighting agent in drilling. The RO treatment recovers >64% water as the permeate, which can be readily used as cooling make-up water at the powerplants. The RO concentrate stream can be further processed in a thermal evaporative system for additional water recovery and brine production.

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