sustainability collab

Houston company partners on well pad restoration project in the Permian Basin

In a new partnership with Apache Corp., researchers at BRI and Texas Native Seeds will investigate methods to improve habitat restoration efforts in the Permian Basin. Photo via Getty Images

Apache Corp. and the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, have partnered to launch a well pad restoration research project.

Researchers at BRI and Texas Native Seeds will investigate methods to improve habitat restoration efforts in the Permian Basin. The goal is to publish a scientific best practices reclamation document for the Permian operators. Texas Native Seeds is a project of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M Kingsville. BRI works mostly in the frontier of Texas and throughout the Southwest.

The BRI project aims to inform oil and gas industries in the Permian about how changes in the industry’s collaborative approach to restoring end-of-service well pads can benefit local biodiversity and reunite fragmented habitats.

At end of a well’s service life, when the well is plugged, equipment is removed, and the pad is reseeded, which allows it to gradually return to a natural condition. The project’s goal is to help accelerate a better return to nature by considering alternative soil preparation techniques. By adding biochar to improve soil fertility, and incorporating undesirable scrub brush as a vegetative cover to hold soil moisture and discourage grassland animals from foraging on the seeds before they germinate, researchers believe this could be done.

“We are honored to partner with the Borderlands Research Institute on this important effort, which aligns with our mission to meet the growing demand for energy and to do so in a cleaner, more sustainable way,” Jessica Jackson, Apache’s Vice President of Environment, Health and Safety, says in a news release. “For many years, Apache has worked to restore well pads to their habitat potential. To further our efforts to continuously improve, Apache is supporting scientific research at sites in the Permian Basin to study the efficacy of methods for habitat restoration.”

The project will also measure increases in soil carbon to passively sequester CO2 in healthy desert soils, which will support Sul Ross State University student research through BRI.

“We all depend on the energy produced in the Permian Basin to power our lives, and we look forward to bringing valuable science to the table to support enhanced restoration practices in the energy industry,” Dr. Louis Harveson, the Dan Allen Hughes, Jr. Endowed Director of Borderlands Research Institute adds in the release. “We appreciate the opportunity to partner with Apache on this important research and applaud their leadership on this issue.”

Trending News

 

A View From HETI

A team led by M.A.S.R. Saadi and Muhammad Maksud Rahman has developed a biomaterial that they hope could be used for the “next disposable water bottle." Photo courtesy Rice University.

Collaborators from two Houston universities are leading the way in engineering a biomaterial into a scalable, multifunctional material that could potentially replace plastic.

The research was led by Muhammad Maksud Rahman, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Houston and an adjunct assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. The team shared its findings in a study in the journal Nature Communications earlier this month. M.A.S.R. Saadi, a doctoral student in material science and nanoengineering at Rice, served as the first author.

The study introduced a biosynthesis technique that aligns bacterial cellulose fibers in real-time, which resulted in robust biopolymer sheets with “exceptional mechanical properties,” according to the researchers.

Biomaterials typically have weaker mechanical properties than their synthetic counterparts. However, the team was able to develop sheets of material with similar strengths to some metals and glasses. And still, the material was foldable and fully biodegradable.

To achieve this, the team developed a rotational bioreactor and utilized fluid motion to guide the bacteria fibers into a consistent alignment, rather than allowing them to align randomly, as they would in nature.

The process also allowed the team to easily integrate nanoscale additives—like graphene, carbon nanotubes and boron nitride—making the sheets stronger and improving the thermal properties.

“This dynamic biosynthesis approach enables the creation of stronger materials with greater functionality,” Saadi said in a release. “The method allows for the easy integration of various nanoscale additives directly into the bacterial cellulose, making it possible to customize material properties for specific applications.”

Ultimately, the scientists at UH and Rice hope this discovery could be used for the “next disposable water bottle,” which would be made by biodegradable biopolymers in bacterial cellulose, an abundant resource on Earth.

Additionally, the team sees applications for the materials in the packaging, breathable textiles, electronics, food and energy sectors.

“We envision these strong, multifunctional and eco-friendly bacterial cellulose sheets becoming ubiquitous, replacing plastics in various industries and helping mitigate environmental damage,” Rahman said the release.

Trending News