Nanoporous Ceramic Membranes for Nitrate Removal from Groundwater
Dr. Olivia Lenz
Materials scientist
Dr. Olivia Lenz is an accomplished materials scientist and R&D engineer with over a decade of experience translating complex research into scalable technologies. She earned her BS in Chemistry from ɬÀï·¬ while participating in the University Scholars program, and her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Washington as a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow, where she developed novel nanomaterials for energy applications. At Membrion, Inc., she led multimillion-dollar government-funded research projects, secured $1.3M+ in Small Business Research and Innovation grants, and holds multiple patents for innovative ion-exchange membrane technologies for water treatment. Her expertise spans materials chemistry, advanced characterization techniques, and cross-functional team leadership, with significant contributions to water purification, energy storage, and sustainable materials development. As an Associate in the Polymers & Chemistry Practice at Exponent, a premier scientific consulting firm, she provided expert technical analysis for complex material failures and IP litigation. Currently serving as R&D Manager at Badwater Alchemy, a water treatment startup, Dr. Lenz continues to drive innovation in advanced materials and purification technologies. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong commitment to mentorship, having trained numerous undergraduate researchers and interns, and remains actively engaged in community service and professional organizations including the ɬÀï·¬ chapter of the Association for Women in Science.
Dr. Lenz's presentation abstract: In Washington state, approximately 60% of the population relies on groundwater as their drinking water supply. In agricultural areas, groundwater is susceptible to nitrate contamination, making it unfit for consumption. Nitrates pose an acute health risk, reducing the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen. To protect public health, the Environmental Protection Agency has set the maximum contamination limit (MCL) for nitrates in drinking water at 10 mg/L or 10 ppm. Frequently, ground water sources in Washington and other agriculture-heavy regions exceed this limit and require treatment before use. The groundwater often includes other contaminants, such as sulfates and chlorides that have a much higher MCL and don’t need to be removed. However, water treatment facilities use cleaning techniques like reverse osmosis and ion exchange resins that remove all ions indiscriminately, usually requiring high energy costs and resulting in low volumes of clean water.
In order to decrease treatment costs and increase the volume of usable water, it would be valuable to have a treatment technique that could preferentially remove nitrate. Electrodialysis is one such technique that utilizes ion exchange membranes that can be tailored to preferentially move specific ions. This talk will detail the successful development of a ceramic anion exchange membrane for use in electrodialysis that preferentially moved nitrate ions over other co-existing anions, measuring nitrate selectivity of > 10x. Nitrate selectivity will be demonstrated in both a synthetic solution and a real groundwater source. Significantly, the real groundwater had a nitrate level of > 70 mg/L and it was reduced to < 10 mg/L with the novel nitrate-selective membranes.