Steve Comfort
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Hi, I’m Steve Comfort, a soil environmental chemist and professor in the School of Natural Resources (SNR).
I am associated with the Water and Geology and Soils Faculties in SNR and coordinate the Environmental Restoration Science major at UNL.
My interests are in understanding the fate and transport of organic chemicals in the environment and devising remediation strategies for contaminated soil and water.
Accidental spills and discharges of farm chemicals and industrial solvents take place each year. When these events occur, normally beneficial chemicals become sources of contamination for ground and surface water. Although the soil-water environment has an enormous potential to naturally attenuate (adsorb, degrade) these foreign substances, this capacity can be exceeded when chemicals are deliberately or inadvertently released to localized areas. To combat these point sources of contamination, our research attempts to devise treatments that can remove these contaminants or alter their chemical structure so that natural attenuation can proceed. Examples of our work include both field-scale treatment of pesticide-contaminated soils and the use of chemical oxidants to treat contaminated groundwater. Our recent efforts are focusing on developing techniques to remove volatile organic compounds from low permeable zones in aquifers.
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In Situ Chemical Oxidation of Contaminated Groundwater |
Field-Scale Treatment of Pesticide-Contaminated Soil |
My primary teaching responsibility is devoted to teaching an undergraduate course entitled “Soils, Environment and Water Quality.” This course is now being offered online for distance education. In the past, I have taught a graduate-level course entitled “Soil Environmental Chemistry” and have been involved in outreach activities that provide in-depth training on the fate of chemicals in soils and groundwater to individuals associated with pesticide application or installation of septic systems in the state of Nebraska.
Key Publications
- Boparai, H.K., S.D. Comfort, P.J. Shea, and J.E. Szecsody. 2008. Remediating explosive-contaminated groundwater by in situ redox manipulation (ISRM) of aquifer sediments. Chemosphere 71:933-941.
- Boparai, H.K., P.J. Shea, S.D. Comfort, and T.A. Machacek. 2008. Sequencing zerovalent iron treatment with carbon amendments to remediate agrichemical-contaminated soil. Water, Air and Soil Pollution.193:189-196.
- Onanong, S. S.D. Comfort, P.D. Burrow, and P.J. Shea. 2007. Using gas-phase molecular descriptors to predict dechlorination rates of chloroalkanes by zerovalent iron. Environ. Sci. Technol.41:1200-1205.
- Onanong, S., P.D. Burrow, S.D. Comfort, and P.J. Shea. 2006. Electron capture detector response and dissociative electron attachment cross sections in chloroalkanes and chloroalkenes. J. Phys. Chem. A 110:4363-4368.
- Adam, M.A., S.D. Comfort, D.D. Snow, D. Cassada, M.C. Morley, and W. Clayton. 2006. Evaluating ozone as a remedial treatment for removing RDX from unsaturated soils. Journal of Environmental Engineering.132:1580-1588.
- Boparai, H.K., P.J. Shea, S.D. Comfort, and D.D. Snow. 2006. Dechlorinating chloroacetanilide herbicides by dithionite-treated aquifer sediment and surface soil. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40:3043-3049.
- Park, J., S.D. Comfort, P.J. Shea, and J.S. Kim. 2005. Increasing Fe0-mediated HMX destruction in highly contaminated soil with didecyldimethylammonium bromide surfactant. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39:9683-9688.
- Adam, M.L., S.D. Comfort, T.C. Zhang, and M.C. Morley. 2005. Evaluating Biodegradation as a Primary and Secondary Treatment for Removing RDX (Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) from a Perched Aquifer. Bioremediation Journal 9:9-19.
- Comfort, S.D. 2005. Remediating RDX and HMX Contaminated Soil and Water. In M. Fingerman and R. Nagabhushanam (eds) Bioremediation of Aquatic and Terrestrial EcoSystems. Science Publishers, Inc. Enfield, NH p. 263-310.
- Comfort, S.D., P.J. Shea, T.A. Machacek, and T. Satapanajaru. 2003. Pilot-scale treatment of RDX-contaminated soil with zerovalent iron. Journal of Environmental Quality. 32:n/a.
- Huang, Y.H., T.C. Zhang, P.J. Shea, and S.D. Comfort. 2003. Effects of oxide coating and selected cations on nitrate reduction by iron metal. Journal of Environmental Quality. 32:n/a.
- Satapanajaru, T., S.D. Comfort, and P.J. Shea. 2003. Enhancing metolachlor destruction rates with aluminum and iron salts during zerovalent iron treatment. Journal of Environmental Quality. 32:n/a.
- Gaber, H., S.D. Comfort, P.J. Shea and T.A. Machacek. 2002. Metolachlor Dechlorination by Zerovalent Iron During Unsaturated Transport. Journal of Environmental Quality. 31:962-969.
- Gaber, H.M., S.D. Comfort, P.J. Shea, and T.A. Machacek. 2002. Metolachlor dechlorination by zerovalentiron during unsaturated transport. Journal of Environmental Quality. 31:962-969.
- Smith, S.K., T.G. Franti, and S.D. Comfort. 2002. Impact of initial soil water content, residue cover, and post-herbicide irrigation on atrazine and metolachlor runoff. Transactions of the ASAE. 45:1817-1824.
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| Potential Advising for Undergraduate Majors | Bachelor of Science in
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| Potential Advising for Graduate Program |
Master of Science with a Specialization in
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| Course Number | Course Title | Day | Time | Cross Listings |
| NRES 899 | Masters Thesis | ARR | ARR | None |
| NRES 999 | Doctoral Dissertation | ARR | ARR | None |
| SNR Faculties | Geology & Soils, Water |
| Areas of Interest | Soil and Water Chemistry, Organic Chemicals, fate and trasport of, Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Water, Environmental soil analysis, |
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