Researchers at the Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security (CFSES) have conducted laboratory and modeling studies to better understand the interplay between microorganisms and geochemistry for geological carbon storage (GCS). We provide evidence of microorganisms adapting to high pressure CO2 conditions and identify factors that may influence survival of cells to CO2 stress. Factors that influenced the ability of cells to survive exposure to high-pressure CO2 in our experiments include mineralogy, the permeability of cell walls and/or membranes, intracellular buffering capacity, and whether cells live planktonically or within biofilm. Column experiments show that, following exposure to acidic water, biomass can remain intact in porous media and continue to alter hydraulic conductivity. Our research also shows that geochemical changes triggered by CO2 injection can alter energy available to populations of subsurface anaerobes and that microbial feedbacks on this effect can influence carbon storage. Our research documents the impact of CO2 on microorganisms and in turn, how subsurface microorganisms can influence GCS. We conclude that microbial presence and activities can have important implications for carbon storage and that microorganisms should not be overlooked in further GCS research.
Ceragenins were used to create biofouling resistant water-treatment membranes. Ceragenins are synthetically produced antimicrobial peptide mimics that display broad-spectrum bactericidal activity. While ceragenins have been used on bio-medical devices, use of ceragenins on water-treatment membranes is novel. Biofouling impacts membrane separation processes for many industrial applications such as desalination, waste-water treatment, oil and gas extraction, and power generation. Biofouling results in a loss of permeate flux and increase in energy use. Creation of biofouling resistant membranes will assist in creation of clean water with lower energy usage and energy with lower water usage. Five methods of attaching three different ceragenin molecules were conducted and tested. Biofouling reduction was observed in the majority of the tests, indicating the ceragenins are a viable solution to biofouling on water treatment membranes. Silane direct attachment appears to be the most promising attachment method if a high concentration of CSA-121a is used. Additional refinement of the attachment methods are needed in order to achieve our goal of several log-reduction in biofilm cell density without impacting the membrane flux. Concurrently, biofilm forming bacteria were isolated from source waters relevant for water treatment: wastewater, agricultural drainage, river water, seawater, and brackish groundwater. These isolates can be used for future testing of methods to control biofouling. Once isolated, the ability of the isolates to grow biofilms was tested with high-throughput multiwell methods. Based on these tests, the following species were selected for further testing in tube reactors and CDC reactors: Pseudomonas ssp. (wastewater, agricultural drainage, and Colorado River water), Nocardia coeliaca or Rhodococcus spp. (wastewater), Pseudomonas fluorescens and Hydrogenophaga palleronii (agricultural drainage), Sulfitobacter donghicola, Rhodococcus fascians, Rhodobacter katedanii, and Paracoccus marcusii (seawater), and Sphingopyxis spp. (groundwater). The testing demonstrated the ability of these isolates to be used for biofouling control testing under laboratory conditions. Biofilm forming bacteria were obtained from all the source water samples.
Scoping studies have demonstrated that ceragenins, when linked to water-treatment membranes have the potential to create biofouling resistant water-treatment membranes. Ceragenins are synthetically produced molecules that mimic antimicrobial peptides. Evidence includes measurements of CSA-13 prohibiting the growth of and killing planktonic Pseudomonas fluorescens. In addition, imaging of biofilms that were in contact of a ceragenin showed more dead cells relative to live cells than in a biofilm that had not been treated with a ceragenin. This work has demonstrated that ceragenins can be attached to polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, though work needs to improve the uniformity of the attachment. Finally, methods have been developed to use hyperspectral imaging with multivariate curve resolution to view ceragenins attached to the RO membrane. Future work will be conducted to better attach the ceragenin to the RO membranes and more completely test the biocidal effectiveness of the ceragenins on the membranes.