CPGE: Environmental Engineering: Staff

Environmental Engineering Staff

	Russell T. Johns, Program Manager rjohns@mail.utexas.edu Dr. Johns' environmental research focuses on the characterization and cleanup of soils primarily contaminated by organic liquids or other substances that are commonly called nonaqueous phase liquids or NAPLs. He and his students and collaborators have developed the analytical theory related to dual-phase pumping of light nonaqueous phase liquids, such as how to optimize the recovery of gasoline spilled near refineries. More recently, his research has focused with Dr. Pope on soil cleanup by insitu thermal desorption (ISTD), a process where the soil is heated by thermal conduction to sufficient temperatures that heavy metals or organic liquids are destroyed insitu or vaporized and extracted by vacuum wells. The research on ISTD is in cooperation with TerraTherm Inc. Dr. Johns has also been involved with numerous projects on the geological disposal of nuclear waste. Most of his research in that area has been on the interpretation of pressure transient analysis tests to characterize potential fast paths (particularly fractured rock) for radioactive isotope transport from the underground disposal site to the biosphere.
	Larry N. Britton lnbritton@mail.utexas.edu Dr. Britton's current research focuses on microbial and chemical strategies for remediation of subsurface contamination. He continues work on biological reductive dehalogenation and is developing strategies for an entirely chemical process for cleanup of chlorinated solvents in contaminated subsurface sites. His other research interests include subsurface biological processes that affect geochemistry.
	Steven L. Bryant steven_bryant@mail.utexas.edu Prof. Bryant's research interests include anomalously rapid transport of contaminants in the subsurface, the development and application of computational models for coupled reactive flow and transport, and applying physically representative models to determine the interfacial area through which interphase mass transfer occurs, a process relevant to several contamination and remediation processes.
	Mojdeh Delshad delshad@mail.utexas.edu Dr. Mojdeh Delshad, an Associate Research Professor, earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from The University of Texas at Austin both in Petroleum Engineering and a BS degree from Aryamehr University in Iran in Chemical Engineering. One of her research interests is in modeling and designing subsurface contaminant transport and remediation processes. She has been involved in the modeling and design of several tracer and surfactant and surfactant/foam field tests using UTCHEM flow and transport aquifer model. She is in charge of UTCHEM development and user support.
	David Dicarlo dicarlo@mail.utexas.edu Prof. DiCarlo's research interests include using advanced experimental techniques such as multi-energy CT scanning, synchrotron radiation, and acoustical measurements. These techniques are used to connect the laboratory scale to the pore scale and reservoir scale on topics such as three-phase, compositional, fracture, and preferential flow in the subsurface.
	Christopher J. Jablonowski cjablonowski@mail.utexas.edu Research Interests: CO2 sequestration, industrial ecology & life-cycle analysis, and HS&E performance.
	Gary A. Pope gpope@mail.utexas.edu Dr. Pope's environmental research focuses on the characterization and cleanup of soils contaminated by either organic liquids or metals. He and his students and collaborators have done extensive laboratory testing of surfactants for soil cleanup for the past 12 years starting with the basic knowledge used for enhanced oil recovery that he and others developed over the past 32 years. Starting in 1996, this surfactant research was taken to the field in cooperation with INTERA and very high levels of cleanup were demonstrated at sites contaminated by chlorinated solvents. Research on olymers and foam has shown mobility control can greatly enhance the effectiveness of surfactant flooding and starting in 1997 these enhancements have also been demonstrated at contaminated field sites. Related research in collaboration with Dr. Mojdeh Delshad on contaminant flow and transport modeling has been done over the same time period to understand, interpret and scale up surfactant flooding processes. The widely used UTCHEM simulator played a critical role in this research and in the design of several field tests and continues to be developed for more processes and applications. It is currently being used to study benefits of high levels of soil cleanup under various realistic field conditions. Parallel with the surfactant research, Dr. Pope and his students and Dr. R.E. Jackson with INTERA developed the idea of using partitioning interwell tracers to characterize aquifers and determine the location and volume of organic liquids contaminating the soil. This patented technology has been used to characterize more than 40 aquifers to date and research continues for both aquifer and oil field applications of the method as well as some novel applications to tank leak detection at the Hanford tank farm. More recently, Dr. Pope has been doing research with Dr. Russell Johns and Dr. Lynn Katz and students and in cooperation with TerraTherm Inc. on contaminant cleanup using soil heating applied to both organic contaminants and metals. Heating by thermal conduction can increase soil temperatures up to 1000 degrees C, which is high enough to destroy most heavy organic contaminants in-situ, and to vaporize metals such as mercury, which can then be extracted by vacuum. Flow and transport modeling with CMG's STARS simulator is also playing a key role in this research. He also collaborates with Dr. Britton on in-situ abiotic reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminants, a method that potentially could be used either by itself or as a polishing step after surfactant cleanup.