EFRI-PSBR: Biodiversity & Biofuels: Finding Win-Win Scenarios for Conservation and Energy Production in the Next Century

EFRI-PSBR：生物多样性

• 批准号: 1332342
• 负责人: Bradley Cardinale
• 金额: $ 199.96万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1332342&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EFRI; PSBR; Biodiversity; & Biofuels

ABSTRACTDevelopment of renewable energy resources like algal biofuels has become a national priority due to climate change and dwindling fossil fuel reserves. To date, most research on algal biofuel has focused on identifying "super-species" - strains of algae that can be genetically modified and grown in environmental conditions that maximize production of combustible lipids. While it is relatively easy to grow high lipid algal monocultures in idealistic lab conditions, it has been challenging to scale-up these cultures to commercially viable scales where populations often fluctuate wildly. Monocultures also tend to be inefficient at capturing and recycling nutrient waste streams, leading to concerns about their environmental impacts and sustainability. Indeed, some have argued that single-species approaches to energy production could generate the same environmental problems that have plagued single species approaches to food production. During the green revolution, vast tracts of land were converted into high-yield crop monocultures that required intensive management and application of biocides and fertilizers to maintain productivity. While the advent of modern agriculture was a huge success for feeding people, it also became the leading cause of biodiversity loss, organic pollution, and degraded water quality worldwide. Commercial-scale 'farming' of algal monocultures to produce biofuel has potential to repeat many of the same environmentally damaging practices, and poses the same challenges to conservation.Is it a possibility to find 'win-win' scenarios for biodiversity and biofuel production? Can we develop sustainable biofuels while, at the same time, avoiding unintended environmental impacts and conserving the diversity of life that is the ultimate source of all renewable resources? The interdisciplinary team of ecologists and engineers of Professors Bradley Cardinale, Phillip Savage, and Nina Lin of the University of Michigan and Todd Oakley of the University of California Santa Barbara believe this is possible. In this project awarded by the National Science Foundation through its Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation initiative, the team intends to test the hypothesis that certain naturally diverse groups of algae have complementary traits that enhance the efficiency and stability of biofuel yield beyond what any single species can achieve alone. This hypothesis stems from a wealth of ecological research that shows whenever species specialize in their use of nutrients or light, or respond to environmental fluctuations differently, diverse communities will (a) more efficiently capture available resources, (b) produce more biomass than even the single most productive species, and (c) maintain yields more stably through time. The ultimate goal of this work is to identify the most productive and sustainable multi-species algal biofuel systems, and then, on a longer term, scale these up to commercially viable biorefineries. One of the key products of the project work will be the generation of a new genomics database that will identify the genes that code for metabolic pathways involved in the production of biocrude oil. This database will not only help identify the genetic code that leads to biofuel production, it will make that code available to future researchers who wish to use genetic engineering to enhance the efficiency, productivity, and stability of algal biofuels even further. The investigative team has partnered with established programs like the University of Michigan's Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach, and the Ecological Society of America's SEEDS extension service, to aid in selecting the student personnel. Utilizing these programs will foster participation by minority groups in the sciences by connecting researchers to ethnic and economically disadvantaged minorities who are seeking research opportunities. In addition to training a new cohort of scientists, the team has also partnered with the Leslie Science & Nature Center to promote public education on sustainable algal biofuels. The Leslie Science & Nature Center is a Michigan nonprofit that provides environmental education and experiences to 25,000 visitors annually, mostly kindergarten through high-school students. A hands-on science exhibit will be developed to teach the public about the benefits of algal derived sustainable bio-oils, and "Citizen Scientist" summer camps will be used to show kids how to collect, identify, culture, and digest algae that are commonly used in biofuel production.

由于气候变化和化石燃料储量减少，藻类生物燃料（如藻类生物燃料）等可再生能源的摘要开发已成为国家优先事项。迄今为止，大多数对藻类生物燃料的研究都集中在鉴定“超级物种” - 藻类的菌株，这些藻类可以在环境条件下进行基因修饰和生长，从而最大程度地生产可燃脂质。尽管在理想主义实验室条件下种植高脂质藻类单栽培的高脂质藻类是相对容易的，但是将这些培养物扩展到人口经常发生狂潮的商业可行规模一直是一项挑战。单一培养物还倾向于捕获和回收营养废物流，从而导致对环境的影响和可持续性的担忧。确实，一些人认为，能源生产的单物种方法可能会产生困扰单一物种食品生产方法的相同环境问题。在绿色革命期间，大量的土地被转化为高收益作物单栽培，需要进行密集的管理和应用杀菌剂和肥料来维持生产力。虽然现代农业的出现对于养活人们来说取得了巨大的成功，但它也成为了生物多样性丧失，有机污染和全球水质退化的主要原因。藻类单一栽培生产生物燃料的商业规模的“农业”有可能重复许多相同的环境破坏性实践，并在保护方面面临相同的挑战。是否有可能为生物多样性和生物燃料生产找到“双赢”场景吗？我们可以开发可持续的生物燃料，同时避免意想不到的环境影响并保护生活的多样性，这是所有可再生资源的最终来源？密歇根大学圣塔芭芭拉分校的生态学家和工程师布拉德利·卡迪纳尔（Bradley Cardinale），菲利普·萨维奇（Phillip Savage）和尼娜·林（Nina Lin）的跨学科团队和加利福尼亚大学圣塔芭芭拉分校的托德·奥克利（Todd Oakley）认为这是可能的。在国家科学基金会通过其研究和创新计划的新兴领域颁发的该项目中，该团队打算检验以下假设：某些自然多样化的藻类群具有互补的特征，可以提高生物燃料产量的效率和稳定性，超出任何单个物种可以实现的目标。这一假设源于大量的生态研究，这些研究表明，每当物种专门研究其营养或光的使用，或者对环境波动的反应不同，不同的社区将（a）更有效地捕获可用的资源，（b）甚至比单一最有生产力的物种产生更多的生物量，并且（c）（c）随着时间的推移而保持收益率更高。 这项工作的最终目的是确定最有生产力，最可持续的多种物种藻类生物燃料系统，然后从长远来看，将其扩展到商业上可行的生物精炼厂。该项目工作的关键产品之一将是生成一个新的基因组学数据库，该数据库将确定与生产生物蛋白油有关的代谢途径代码的基因。 该数据库不仅将有助于确定导致生物燃料生产的遗传代码，还将使未来的研究人员可以使用该代码，这些研究人员希望使用基因工程来提高藻类生物燃料的效率，生产力和稳定性。调查团队已与密歇根大学工程多样性与外展中心以及美国生态学会扩展服务等建立计划合作，以帮助选择学生人员。利用这些计划将通过将研究人员与寻求研究机会的种族和经济不利的少数民族联系起来，从而促进科学中少数群体的参与。除了培训新的科学家队列外，该团队还与莱斯利科学与自然中心合作，以促进有关可持续藻类生物燃料的公共教育。 莱斯利科学与自然中心是密歇根州的非营利组织，每年通过高中生为25,000名游客提供环境教育和经验。 将开发一个动手科学展览，以向公众传授藻类衍生的可持续生物油的好处，“公民科学家”夏令营将用于向孩子们展示如何收集，识别，识别，文化和消化藻类，这些藻类通常用于生物燃料生产中。