About

Margaret Busse is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering, a Master of Science in Engineering, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering, all from Purdue University. Her research focuses on environmental and water resource engineering, with particular emphasis on the environmental impacts of geothermal energy, lithium extraction, and wastewater treatment. She has contributed to understanding greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment, the impact of geothermal expansion on local water resources, and the environmental implications of lithium recovery from geothermal brines. Professor Busse has been recognized for her societal impact and energy research, receiving the Research Guidance Award from the Institute of Energy and the Environment in January 2025 and the Director's Award for Societal Impact from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in November 2024. Her work involves assessing the environmental impacts of resource extraction and water treatment processes, and she actively participates in research projects related to geothermal lithium resources and water treatment control systems. She is dedicated to advancing sustainable engineering solutions and contributes to the academic community through research, mentorship, and service.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Environmental engineering
• Computer Science
• Geology
• Business
• Biochemical engineering
• Engineering
• Earth science
• Waste management
• Chemistry
• Geophysics
• Oceanography
• Process engineering

Selected publications

• Benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from US wastewater treatment for targeted reduction

  Nature Water · 2025-10-08 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Here, to assess the national climate impact of wastewater treatment and inform decarbonization, we assembled a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory of 15,863 facilities in the contiguous USA. Considering location and treatment configurations, we modelled on-site CH4, N2O and CO2 production and emissions associated with energy, chemical inputs and solids disposal. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimated median national emissions at 47 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, with on-site process CH4 and N2O emissions exceeding current government estimates by 41%. Treatment configurations with anaerobic digesters are responsible for 16 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year of fugitive methane, outweighing benefits achieved through on-site electricity generation. Systems designed for nutrient removal have the highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity, attributable to energy requirements and N2O production, demonstrating current trade-offs between meeting water quality and climate objectives. We analysed key sensitivities and included a geospatial analysis to highlight the scale and distribution of opportunities for reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants is an essential step in developing mitigation strategies. This is now achieved for the USA by modelling over 15,000 facilities using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a national baseline.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Model-Based Control of Water Treatment with Pumped Water Storage

  IFAC-PapersOnLine · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Water treatment facilities are critical infrastructure they must accommodate dynamic demand patterns without system disruption. These patterns can be scheduled, such as daily residential irrigation, or unexpected, such as demand spikes from withdrawals for fire management. The critical necessity of clean, safe, and reliable water requires water treatment control strategies that are insensitive to disturbances to guarantee that demand will be met. One essential problem in achieving this is the minimization of energy costs in the process of meeting water demand, especially as the need for decarbonization persists. This work develops a control-oriented hydraulic model of a water treatment facility with integrated pumped storage and introduces a model predictive control strategy for scheduling treatment plant system operations to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and safely meet water demand.

  PublisherDOI

• Benchmarking Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Wastewater Treatment for Targeted Reduction

  2024-10-31 · 3 citations

  preprintOpen access

  To assess the national climate impact of wastewater treatment and inform decarbonization, we assembled a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory of 15,867 facilities in the contiguous United States. Considering facility location and treatment configurations, we model on-site CH4, N2O, and CO2 production, and emissions associated with energy, chemical inputs, and solids disposal. Our estimate of 42 million tonnes CO2-eq·year-1 is over 25% higher than current government national wastewater inventories. Without leak detection and repair programs, facilities with anaerobic digesters currently are responsible for 17 million tonnes CO2-eq·year-1 of fugitive methane, outweighing the greenhouse gas offsets achieved through on-site electricity generation. Treatment configurations designed for nitrification have the highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity, attributable to high energy requirements and N2O production, and demonstrating current trade-offs between meeting nutrient removal and climate objectives. We include a geospatial analysis to highlight the scale and distribution of opportunities to reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impact of geothermal expansion and lithium extraction in the Salton Sea known geothermal resource area (SS-KGRA) on local water resources

  Environmental Research Letters · 2024 · 9 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Environmental science
  • Geology

  Abstract Saline brines currently being brought to the surface to produce geothermal energy in the Salton Sea region of California contain high concentrations of lithium that could potentially be extracted before the brine is reinjected back into the geothermal reservoir. This would create a new supply chain of domestically sourced lithium for the United States to produce lithium-based batteries that will help drive the transition to a renewable-based energy grid. Plans to expand geothermal production along with lithium extraction are being considered in the Salton Sea known geothermal resource area. We discuss water availability and quality issues and potential concerns about water pollution associated with this geothermal expansion and lithium production in the context of potential future restrictions on water extractions from the Colorado River Basin. We estimate that water demand for currently proposed geothermal production and lithium extraction facilities only accounts for ∼4% of the historical water supply in the region. Regional water allocation will be more impacted by the proposed cuts to the region’s water allocation from the Colorado River between now and 2050 than by expansion of geothermal production with associated lithium extraction. Accurately planning for water needs in the future will require more specific information about water demands of the lithium extraction and refining processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Model-Based Control of Water Treatment with Pumped Water Storage

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-08-14

  preprintOpen access

  Water treatment facilities are critical infrastructure they must accommodate dynamic demand patterns without system disruption. These patterns can be scheduled, such as daily residential irrigation, or unexpected, such as demand spikes from withdrawals for fire management. The critical necessity of clean, safe, and reliable water requires water treatment control strategies that are insensitive to disturbances to guarantee that demand will be met. One essential problem in achieving this is the minimization of energy costs in the process of meeting water demand, especially as the need for decarbonization persists. This work develops a control-oriented hydraulic model of a water treatment facility with integrated pumped storage and introduces a model predictive control strategy for scheduling treatment plant system operations to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and safely meet water demand.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Environmental Impact Assessment of Lithium Recovery from Geothermal Brines in the SS-KGRA: An Overview

  eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  paratextOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  There is increasing interest in securing a reliable, domestic source of lithium in the United States to support an electrified grid and energy secure future. The Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area (SS-KGRA) has garnered attention for this purpose due to the abundance of lithium in brines brought to the surface for geothermal energy production in this region. Geothermal production from this field is already expected to grow from the current 400 MWe to 920 MWe in the next 3-4 years with a potential total geothermal capacity in the region estimated at nearly 2,950 MWe. With this growth, there is potential for construction and operation of new direct lithium recovery and processing facilities to meet domestic demands for lithium. In this work, we estimate the potential impact of geothermal expansion and lithium extraction in the SS-KGRA on water use, direct air emissions from facilities, and solid waste production and management.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Electrocoagulation of high-salinity produced water: lessons learned from its early applications in unconventional reservoir plays

  Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering · 2023 · 12 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Biochemical engineering
  • Waste management
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Characterizing the Geothermal Lithium Resource at the Salton Sea

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · 2023-11-22 · 26 citations

  reportOpen access

  The energy transition towards a more sustainable and renewable future is a pivotal global endeavor. Central to this shift for the United States is the critical role of domestically sourced lithium, a key mineral in the production of high-performance batteries essential for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems. This has driven the United States to invest heavily in a domestic supply chain for batterygrade lithium to enhance energy security, reduce supply chain vulnerabilities, and foster economic growth by tapping into local resources. A notable example is the Biden Administration’s “American Battery Materials Initiative,” which was included in the $2.8-billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (The White House, 2022).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Water Disinfection Processes Applicable in Low-Income Settings

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2022 · 5 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Environmental engineering
  • Business

  of water for each system, which allowed quantification of material use, infrastructure requirements, and life cycle of the original components of each system and those needed to keep them operational for the studied lifespans (1, 5, 10, and 20 years) and scales (30, 100, 500, and 1000 L per day). For all studied cases, chlorine had the lowest impact in all impact categories, but end-user acceptance of chlorine in some settings is low, driving interest in low-impact alternatives. Disinfection based on low-pressure mercury lamps had the next lowest normalized impact in most categories and may represent a viable alternative, particularly for long-term (10+ years), high production (500+ liters per day) scenarios.

  PublisherDOI

• Responses of Salmonella typhimurium LT2, Vibrio harveyi, and Cryptosporidium parvum to UVB and UVA radiation

  Chemical Engineering Journal · 2019-04-16 · 24 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jennifer B. Dunn

  Northwestern University

  6 shared

• Jennifer Stokes-Draut

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  5 shared

• Jeremy S. Guest

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  4 shared

• Pengxiao Zhou

  Northwestern University

  4 shared

• Maryam Amouamouha

  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  4 shared

• Jordan Macknick

  National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  4 shared

• Jason K. Hawes

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  3 shared

• Ernest R. Blatchley

  3 shared

Labs

• PSMES BoardPI

  Organization and Board

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineering

  Purdue University

  2021

• Master of Science, Civil Engineering

  Purdue University

  2016

• Bachelor's of Science, Biological Engineering

  Purdue University

  2013

Awards & honors

• Research Guidance Award, Institute of Energy and the Environ…
• Director's Award for Societal Impact, Lawrence Berkeley Nati…