Water Research Focus Areas | Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne’s portfolio of water research projects falls into six focus areas. Many of these projects leverage the capabilities of powerful scientific tools at Argonne, including its world-class U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facilities.

Research Area

Water: Manufacturing

This focus area concerns the scaleup of materials manufacturing and processing, including data-enabled cyber-manufacturing.

Research Area

Water: Materials

Argonne’s water-related materials projects focus on developing and characterizing various materials such as membranes, sorbents and catalysts relevant to water monitoring, treatment, conveyance and reuse, and water-enabled energy production.

Research Area

Water: Modeling and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

Projects in this area focus on developing accurate and efficient physics-based models, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms and simulation software to advance the study of water and aqueous solutions.

Research Area

Water: Selective Separation

This focus area involves developing functional groups, sorbents, membranes and catalysts for selective separation of various contaminants from water.

Research Area

Water: Sensors and Control

In this area, Argonne is developing affordable chemical and biological sensors that monitor water quality in polluted areas and control methods for water-related processes such as fouling of surfaces.

Research Area

Water: Sustainability

This focus area’s projects employ life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analyses and risk analyses to ensure our nation’s water sustainability.