University of New Mexico,

New Mexico State University,

Eastern New Mexico University,

Santa Fe Community College,

Western New Mexico University

The Bioalgal Energy Development component of Energize New Mexico looks for solutions that make use of non-traditional organisms and contaminated water in order to generate knowledge about algal biology and practical applications of biofuels. In Year 3, the team moved from the laboratory to field conditions. Three research sites—NMSU, ENMU, and SFCC—grew algae with local groundwater, produced water from oil and gas drilling, untreated city wastewater, dairy farm wastewater, and cheese whey wastewater. The growth of the algae Galdieria sulphuraria was shown to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater. NMSU deployed an algal-based wastewater treatment system as an experiment with the Las Cruces Wastewater Treatment Facility. Also, team members across the state used experimental photobioreactors to improve algae biomass as a potential for fuel.

The team continues to challenge current methods of growing algae, including the study of encapsulation of algae cells. Recent experiments at UNM show gel encapsulation increases the lifespan of the algae by protecting the cells from germs while boosting its metabolism. Ideally, this will help make harvesting lipids, the oily part of the algal biomass used to make fuel, easier and less expensive. NM EPSCoR funding provided the core equipment of a SEED Facility at NMSU, and provided UNM with a state-of-the-art supercritical fluid chromatograph to analyze algae lipids for the new Facility for Metabolic Chromatography.

New Mexico State University,
New Mexico Tech,
University of New Mexico

The Energize New Mexico Solar Energy team formed to address challenges involved in making solar energy a sustainable and practical investment. The team is specifically focused on the effectiveness and efficiency of solar energy devices, and the feasibility of alternatives to fossil fuels by using solar power to convert carbon dioxide into methanol.

The Center for High Technology Materials at UNM now includes a fully operational magnetophotoluminescence facility. The facility will be used to characterize nanoparticle catalysts that can convert CO2 into alternative fuels, and ultimately will help to design more efficient organic solar photovoltaic cells. Working at the molecular level, researchers at UNM, NMSU, and NM Tech continue to study how bonding between certain types of material can result in high energy output from the molecules, called excited state lifetimes.

New Mexico Tech,
Eastern New Mexico University,
New Mexico Highlands University,
New Mexico State University

While the quest for alternative fuel continues, the world still depends on oil and gas. That’s why the Osmotic Power component of Energize New Mexico is trying to make oil and gas extraction more efficient. A large part of New Mexico’s economy depends on oil and gas drilling in various parts of the state, but billions of gallons of water are produced in the process. Called “produced water,” it is often discarded due to the high concentration of organic and inorganic matter in the water (such as salt) called dissolved solids.

The Osmotic team—in collaboration with the Bioalgal and Geothermal teams—researches how to use produced water to generate clean energy through a process called PRO, Pressure Retarded Osmosis. PRO uses membranes as filters that remove dissolved solids. Students and faculty create much of their equipment by hand in the lab, and the membrane fabrication process is itself environmentally friendly because the team uses green solvents to create the membranes. Past PRO research focused only on seawater with 7% dissolved solids, and data on highly saline water with higher dissolved solid concentrate was simply unavailable. During Year 3, osmotic team members have, for the first time, evaluated osmotic power potential using highly saline water with 10% dissolved solids.

Two small-scale osmotic power generation testing systems were designed and built to test the performance of distillation membranes, created with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and tested with multiple PRO experiments to maximize salt rejection and the flow of water, and prevent fouling (blockages)and leaks. The Osmotic team also leads the way in collaborations. Along with the Geothermal component, the Osmotic team partnered with Masson Greenhouse, an industrial greenhouse in Radium Springs, NM that uses geothermal energy to power their greenhouse and hopes to use fabricated membranes to clean hot springs water for use. Apache Corporation continues to provide produced water to the team, and Trevi Systems is now an industry partner on membrane fabrication.

University of New Mexico,
New Mexico Tech

As part of their continued efforts for the Energize New Mexico grant, the Uranium Transport & Site Remediation research team promotes collaborations among university scientists working on fundamental uranium biogeochemistry, engineers, applied geologists, regional resource managers, and tribal leaders concerned with mineral resources, contamination of the surrounding area, and remediation. In Year 3, scientists from UNM, NM Tech, and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology made significant progress characterizing the extent of contamination from legacy uranium mining and milling and how its spreads in groundwater, surface water, vegetation, and soils on the Laguna Pueblo and Navajo Nation.

Data from New Mexico EPSCoR–supported research in the Navajo Nation that was published in Environmental Science & Technology convinced local leaders to place new sites on their Priority List for environmental remediation. Researchers have built lasting collaborations with state and federal regulatory agencies to investigate the impacts of legacy uranium mining on tribal lands in west-central New Mexico.

In the last year, the team documented elevated concentrations of uranium and co-occurring metals in abandoned mine wastes on Native American lands. For example, uranium concentrations in water from a seep on the Blue Gap Tachee site were up to 5 times the EPA’s drinking water limit and suggest that abandoned mine wastes can be a major source of potential metal exposure to local people and livestock. Results from this and other research sites near the Jackpile Mine on the Laguna Pueblo are being shared and translated to the Native American communities at Tribal Council and chapter meetings.

Because of relationships established through the Energize New Mexico project, the New Mexico Environment Department reached out to the NM EPSCoR Uranium researchers after the 2015 Gold King Mine spill on a tributary of the Animas River (an environmental disaster associated with the spill of 3 million gallons of mine wastewater and tailings) for independent analysis of the impacts on tribal lands and waters. In addition, outreach efforts to K-12 students at Laguna Pueblo have fostered interest in STEM learning and have inspired young Native American scientists.

University of New Mexico,
New Mexico Tech,
Valles Caldera National Preserve

New Mexico is a geologically-active state, and is ranked 6th in the nation for geothermal energy potential. While some surface evidence exists for large geothermal systems, such as hot springs, more detailed information lies below the ground. In order to determine the viability and longevity of these systems, Energize New Mexico includes a Geothermal Energy component. The team addresses the potential of these systems to create sustainable energy and the economic implications of such systems.

After undergoing intensive training in Year 2, the geothermal team deployed the Zonge Magnetotelluric (MT) system in Year 3 over the Socorro Magma Body and in areas near Truth or Consequences. The MT system helps the team detect possible geothermal structures underground and allows for temperature estimation. After detecting a low-resistivity anomaly in the rock above the Socorro Magma Body, the team determined that geothermal resources have good potential for direct use of heat such as greenhouses, spas, and direct heating of buildings, but the resources are not likely to be at a temperature high enough to sustain electrical power in New Mexico’s current economy.

Real-time monitoring of selected systems in the field is currently underway and the team is expanding, allowing for new modeling and mapping of these systems. The MT equipment is expanding its use to image deep brackish and saline water resources, and the team is the first to deploy a CO₂ flux monitor to measure and evaluate changes in CO₂ release from underground along the Rio Grande Rift.

University of New Mexico,
New Mexico State University

The Social & Natural Science Nexus team works toward developing a cutting-edge multidisciplinary model that links natural and human systems to better understand the trade-offs that occur between different energy and economic development choices while considering the potential for socioeconomic, environmental, and water use sustainability. This research considers interactions and feedbacks between the social and natural sciences in order to determine the sustainability and acceptability of energy production and use. The results will enable policy makers and researchers to compare and/or integrate information across many areas to address questions to help New Mexico develop its energy resources in a sustainable way.

The Social & Natural Science Nexus team works toward developing a cutting-edge multidisciplinary model that links natural and human systems to better understand the trade-offs that occur between different energy and economic development choices while considering the potential for socioeconomic, environmental, and water use sustainability. This research considers interactions and feedbacks between the social and natural sciences in order to determine the sustainability and acceptability of energy production and use. The results will enable policy makers and researchers to compare and/or integrate information across many areas to address questions to help New Mexico develop its energy resources in a sustainable way.

NM EPSCoR supported the Water Resources and Research Institute at NMSU to create a Dynamic Statewide Water Budget (DSWB) system dynamics model. System dynamics is an approach to model complex systems over time. The DSWB is a model that will support local and regional planning of New Mexico’s limited and critically important water resources. For the first time, the DSWB synthesizes water supply and demand information from across the state into a single, easily accessible location, and in such a way that users can view information at a variety of spatial scales. The model provides mass balance calculations for river basins and water planning regions across the state, which is critically important information for water planners, particularly in light of climate change.

Some of the new information developed includes statewide assessments of recharge to groundwater, levels and storage changes of groundwater, remotely sensed/modeled precipitation data, and surface water flow statistics. Of particular interest, new research is adding to our understanding of evapotranspiration rates in New Mexico, an important component of the water balance that previously was only modeled or estimated. EPSCoR-supported graduate students have been trained in system dynamics modeling and have begun research on case studies in the Lower Rio Grande watershed that will be integrated with the DSWB to inform trade-offs between water availability and energy and agricultural production.

The DSWB is the first major step in completing a larger statewide, interdisciplinary system dynamics model that will integrate social and natural sciences by joining three energy/water nexus budgets: energy, social preferences, and water. It will ultimately be part of a living web-based State Water Plan housed at the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission.

Earth Data Analysis Center at the
University of New Mexico

Cyberinfrastructure (CI) plays a critical role in Energize New Mexico, enabling collaboration across all project components, and creating a simple process to discover and use the learning modules and data NM EPSCoR develops. Each Energize New Mexico team has a CI team liaison to better support research and data management efforts so research findings can be included in the EPSCoR data portal.

In Year 3, the CI team developed a process for metadata (data about data) entry, as well as a data transfer process and interface for the project’s integrated data storage portal. The team consolidated data management, analysis, and visualization tool descriptions into the portal and developed a database model for capturing metadata for external data sources. NM EPSCoR is currently a DataONE Tier 4 member node, allowing for collaborations with national and international data networks. The team also initiated a collaboration with the Open Science Framework to develop use cases for expanding the capabilities of its platform to support private cloud platforms for shared data management.