Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The proximity of New Mexico State University to the Permian Basin oil and gas production region (and multiple brackish water sources), combined with our arid landscape that faces significant water challenges, has driven a local focus and gathering of research expertise around the treatment and utilization of impaired water sources, particularly for agricultural re-use. That focus is embodied by NMSU faculty participation in multiple interdisciplinary water research efforts, multiple institutional funding successes in water research, and inscription of water research as an institutional research strength by the NMSU Office of the Vice President for Research. In short, water-for-agriculture research efforts are expanding at a rapid rate at NMSU and this pattern will continue in light of the water challenges that have already arrived to our region. This project funds the acquisition of a modern ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry system to provide identification and quantitation of organic pollutants/compounds within water systems that are germane to these research efforts. Our proposed user base includes interdisciplinary teams comprised of water experts, plant and soil researchers, policy experts, analytical chemists, and engineers. The new analytical instrument will be managed by the Chemical Analysis and Instrumentation Laboratory within the NMSU OVPR Research Cores Program and will be a critical and empowering tool for a large number of researchers across multiple disciplines, institutions and consortia who are pursuing technology and innovations to mitigate the most urgent threat to agriculture in the southwestern United States - water scarcity.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
70%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
The proximity of New Mexico State University to the Permian Basin oil and gas production region (and multiple brackish water sources), combined with our arid landscape that faces significant water challenges, has driven a local focus and gathering of research expertise around the treatment and utilization of impaired water sources, particularly for agricultural re-use. In short, water research efforts are expanding at a rapid rate at NMSU and this pattern will continue in light of the water challenges that have already arrived to our region. This project will fund the acquisition of a modern ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry system to provide identification and quantitation of organic pollutants/compounds within water systems that are germane to these research efforts. Our user base includes interdisciplinary teams comprised of water experts, plant and soil researchers, policy experts, analytical chemists, and engineers. The requested analytical instrument will be managed by the Chemical Analysis and Instrumentation Laboratory within the NMSU OVPR Research Cores Program and will be a critical and empowering tool for a large number of researchers across multiple disciplines, institutions and consortia who are pursuing technology and innovations to mitigate the most urgent threat to agriculture in the southwestern United States - water scarcity.Goal 1. Installation, Optimization and Baseline. The instrument will be purchased, delivered, and installed within the first six months of the project period. System performance will be optimized over the month following installation and performance metrics will be established using standards. These metrics will serve as ongoing quality checks throughout the lifetime of the instrument. The instrument will be available for use in water-for-agriculture applications immediately thereafter.Goal 2. Research ProjectsNew Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium Over the past decade, New Mexico has been recognized as a leader in the pursuit of treatment methods for oil and gas produced water to supplement fresh water supplies and reduce the use of fresh water in oil and gas development. These efforts support a sustainable freshwater management approach in New Mexico, where average annual precipitation has declined significantly over the past century.NMSU and consortium partners seek to understand topics such as 1) contaminant scope/identity 2) identification of effective treatments 3) bioaccumulation and toxicity in soils, flora and fauna, surface water, associated biota, and ground water resources 4) contaminant interactions with soils and mineral surfaces in aqueous systems, and the geochemical modeling of such interactions. This effort includes characterization of produced water unique to individual formations, as well as chemical additives used for fracking. The NMPWRC is one of just four water research organizations specifically selected by the U.S. EPA to lead a water re-use initiative.Water recovery from municipal wastewater Acquisition of the UHPLC/LCMS-8050 instrumentation will be immensely beneficial to two ongoing urban wastewater reclamation collaborations between the NMSU College of Engineering, UTEP and the Research Cores Program. The city of Las Cruces, El Paso Water, and Bureau of Reclamation are key partners in these research projects. NMSU maintains a pilot-scale algal/FO/RO treatment test-bed installed and operated since 2015 at the City of Las Cruces wastewater treatment facility. The primary focus of this project is algal treatment of urban wastewaters followed by dual-stage forward osmosis/reverse osmosis (FO/RO) to recover water for agricultural and other restricted re-use. The system also provides fertilizer recovery from wastewaters for crop production and liquid biofuel recovery. Our previous studies have documented a mixotrophic algal system for removing BOD and nutrients from primary effluent to the mandated discharge standards in a single step. The new instrumentation will fill a critical need for quantification of residual organic contaminants in the reclaimed water from this system. Additionally, the instrumentation will serve to identify process-relevant removal (or not) of contaminants at every stage of the process to understand the chemistry of the system and identify technology improvements.Exploring beneficial uses of treated produced and brackish water sources through technology and cropping systems innovation With this project, NMSU researchers have identified several species of drought-resistant, salt-tolerant halophyte plants that may be used in conjunction with rangeland restoration and forage initiatives in eastern New Mexico, where osmotically-treated brackish and produced water are being investigated as a water source. The new UHPLC/LCMS-8050 instrumentation would be vital to monitor uptake in soil, roots and plants; and would identify contamination issues during irrigation with brackish and/or low-quality water. Additionally, quantitative analysis of organic contaminants will inform the project's toxicity assessment of exposed plants.Toxins from Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms in NM Surface Water (NMSU Ag: Holguin, Funding: State of NM) The Holguin research group is monitoring endogenous cyanobacterial toxic species in the surface water systems of New Mexico. This effort involves the detection of cyanobacterial toxins with mass spectrometry from both water samples and biomass. Use of the new instrumentation will allow trace level detection of cyanotoxins and identify chemically unknown compounds that may also be utilized as early markers for blooms.Biomass-derived chars for removal of organics from impaired water The Brewer research group has identified mechanisms to produce low-cost carbon-based adsorbents to remove contaminants from water. Currently, this involves forest and orchard trimmings and pecan shells (from the large local pecan industry) for the removal of N-nitrosodimethylamine from ground water. This group is beginning work on removal of hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants from oil and gas produced water to reduce emissions from holding ponds and to improve performance of desalination membranes. The new instrumentation would provide reliable trace organic quantitation to measure adsorption capacity of tailored carbon adsorbents across the wide range of compounds present.Advanced Informatics Resources, (NMSU College of Business: Trainor) The Statistical Bioscience Research Group (SBRG) at NMSU is a tremendous and enabling on-campus resource for statistical, informatic, and machine learning support for all projects described herein. The SBRG is housed in the Applied Statistics section of the Economics, Applied Statistics and International Business department in the NMSU College of Business. Co-PI Dr. Patrick Trainor, has extensive experience in the informatic processing and statistical analysis of mass spectrometry data including complex LC/MS outputs. The SBRG will provide direct informatic and data analysis support to researchers utilizing the LCMS-8050 instrument.Goal 3. Student Training The broader impacts of this acquisition are substantial. Placement of the system in the NMSU Research Cores Program will introduce a large number of faculty researchers and students to the unique applicability of highly sensitive targeted organic compound quantitation in agricultural applications. All projects provide research opportunity for students, and nearly all projects mentor students from underserved groups. We estimate that during the first three years of operation, 36 trainees will have mentored research experiences and ~60 students will receive coursework in trace organic quantitative mass spectrometry with the new system.
Project Methods
The instrument will be purchased, delivered, and installed within the first six months of the project period. System performance will be optimized over the month following installation and performance metrics will be established using standards. These metrics will serve as ongoing quality checks throughout the lifetime of the instrument.We will utilize standard solutions of metabolites, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and hormones to tune instrument performance including chromatography and ion optics. These standards will also be utilized to determine calibration and linearity, limits of detection and limits of quantitation. We will explore commercial column options and employ both reverse-phased as well as HILIC chromatography (depending on the application) and will optimize instrumentation methods for each of these UHPLC column chemistries, for both positive and negative ion mode analyses.We will utilize high-sensitivity, rapid positive/negative ionization switching for research project applications to maximize throughput. We will utilize high speed multiple reaction monitoring and Shimadzu database/library matching for compound identification. Additionally, we have purchased the IROA Technologies mass spectrometry metabolite library that includes over 600 comopunds across multiple classes. With this library, we also have a m/z and retention time library that will be aligned to these standard compounds. This will enable robust retention time matching and library searching for this instrument going forward.Finally, we will utilize multiple open-source data analysis platforms for informatic processing and statistical analysis of mass spectrometry data including complex LC/MS outputs.