Luster-Teasley The objective of this exploratory research is to design an innovative controlled release delivery system for groundwater and subsurface soil remediation. Dr. Lister-Teasley will investigate the ability to incorporate chemical oxidants into biodegradable polymers to develop a new method of subsurface chemical oxidant delivery. This research is exploratory because fundamental investigations are needed to determine the feasibility of combining oxidants within biodegradable polymers for environmental remediation. Specifically, we need to understand how to incorporate the oxidants into the biodegradable plastics, the reactions between the oxidants and plastics, and the release of the oxidants for remediation. This exploratory research is significant to Environmental Engineering because these remediation capable structures would provide a new, economical, and low maintenance form of in-situ chemical oxidant remediation for contaminated water and subsurface soils.
