NMPWRC March Webinar | Comprehensive Cytotoxicity Assessment of Treated Produced Water Using Human Cell Lines

​Comprehensive Cytotoxicity Assessment of Treated Produced Water Using Human Cell Lines​

​featuring ​

​Dr. Yanyan Zhang​

​This webinar presents an evaluation of the biological effects of untreated and treated produced water (PW) from the Permian Basin using human cell models. A suite of in vitro assays assessed cell viability, oxidative stress, apoptosis, estrogenic activity, and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation following PW exposure. Untreated PW caused significant cytotoxicity, while treated samples, such as distillate and membrane permeate, showed minimal toxicity. However, some thermal distillates exhibited estrogenic activity and activated AhR, suggesting the presence of residual organic contaminants and the need for additional post-treatment to ensure water reuse safety.

​Dr. Yanyan Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at New Mexico State University. In the past few years, she has been working on ammonia recovery from produced water and toxicity assays of treated produced water for beneficial reuse. She is experienced in whole effluent toxicity assays using various aquatic organisms and in vitro human cell cytotoxicity assays. She has participated in several projects related to produced water characterization and post-treatment and has published numerous peer-reviewed journal papers on these topics.