IRES Track I: Rapid, Integrated Geotechnical and Geochemical Characterization of Mine Waste for Phytoremediation and Biofuel/Bioenergy Production

IRES 轨道 I：用于植物修复和生物燃料/生物能源生产的矿山废物的快速、综合岩土工程和地球化学表征

• 批准号: 2107177
• 负责人: Samuel Mutiti
• 金额: $ 16.6万
• 依托单位: Georgia College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2107177&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Track; Rapid; Integrated; Geotechnical

The transition to renewable energies requires mining raw materials to develop and sustain these sources of energy. Unfortunately, mining has historically created a legacy of heavy metal contamination all over the world. Heavy metal pollution is a serious global challenge that threatens human life and food security. In recent years, simultaneous clean-up of old, legacy mine sites using phytoremediation and valuable metal production from the harvested plants has generated increased interest in the scientific community. There is further interest in investigating the integration of remediation with the production of bioenergy and other bio-based products for a more sustainable approach to plant-based remediation approaches. This project will foster research collaboration between Colorado School of Mines, Georgia College & State University, and foreign collaborators at the University of Zambia. Each year, a diverse group of four undergraduate and two graduate students will work with US and Zambian mentors to conduct six weeks of international field work on the legacy impacts of mining, phytoremediation, and the integration of phytoremediation with bioenergy production. This project aims to a) provide US students with international research experiences that develop global competence skills and awareness, b) increase knowledge and understanding of simultaneous use of plants for phytoremediation and clean energy production, and c) improve human health and provide alternative sources of energy for Zambians. Participating US students will acquire critical industry and societal skills such as critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem solving, data analysis and interpretation, writing, and presentation of results. In addition, the skills and knowledge acquired by US students will be transferable to the US, where the need for more renewable and clean energies are in high demand. Recruitment efforts will focus on attracting students from underrepresented groups in the Earth and environment science fields to increase their representation. The project will expose students to hands-on multidisciplinary research (i.e. soil science, plant science, mining engineering, environmental engineering, geochemistry) and mentoring from experts in multi-disciplinary fields. The US students will gain knowledge on how responsible extraction of raw material is beneficial and crucial to national economic well-being. Through faculty mentoring, US students will gain high quality international research experience, global awareness and cultural experiences to broaden their world views. The increase in energy sources would help the authorities in Zambia and other developing countries supply clean energy and help meet the ever-increasing demand. The technical objective is to identify geochemical and geotechnical parameters that control the effectiveness of integrated phytoremediation and biofuel production. The hypothesis to be tested is that extraction rates and biofuel potential of hyper accumulator native plant species are a function of climate and the natural variation in the composition and geotechnical properties of mine waste dumps. A secondary objective is to investigate the feasibility of rapid, integrated geotechnical and geochemical characterization of mine waste for phytoremediation and biofuel/bioenergy (i.e., bioethanol, biodiesel biogas/CNG and bioelectricity) production at old mine sites. The study aims to rapidly characterize the properties of old mine waste dumps at selected target sites using advanced geotechnical engineering techniques, identify local metallophyte and pseudometallophyte plant species that can colonize sites that have been highly polluted with heavy metals, identify and compare the most efficient local hyperaccumulator plants, and investigate the biofuel/bioenergy potential of the identified hyperaccumulators. Results from this project will advance knowledge in phytoremediation and the utilization of locally available plants to mitigate adverse health effects of heavy metal pollution while converting biomass to energy, and thereby reducing pressure on fossil fuels and hydroelectricity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

向可再生能源的过渡需要采矿原材料来开发和维持这些能源。不幸的是，矿业从历史上创造了全世界的重金属污染的遗产。重金属污染是威胁人类生活和粮食安全的严重全球挑战。近年来，使用植物修复和收获植物的有价值的金属生产对古老的旧矿场同时清理了对科学界的兴趣越来越高。对于研究补救措施与生物能源和其他基于生物的产品的产生的整合，以进一步研究基于植物的补救方法的方法，这进一步兴趣。该项目将促进科罗拉多州矿业，佐治亚大学和州立大学的研究合作，以及赞比亚大学的外国合作者。每年，一个由四个本科生和两名研究生组成的各种各样的小组将与我们和赞比亚的导师合作，从事六个星期的国际现场工作，以实现采矿，植物修复的遗产影响，以及将植物修复与生物能源生产的整合。该项目的目的是a）为我们的学生提供国际研究经验，以发展全球能力技能和意识，b）提高对同时使用植物用于植物修复和清洁能源生产的知识和理解，c）改善人类健康，并为赞比亚人提供替代的能源。参加美国学生将获得关键的行业和社会技能，例如批判性思维，逻辑推理，解决问题，数据分析和解释，写作和结果的介绍。此外，美国学生获得的技能和知识将可以转移到美国，在这种情况下，需要更加可再生和清洁的能量需求量很高。招聘工作将集中在地球和环境科学领域中代表性不足的群体中吸引学生以增加其代表性。该项目将使学生接受动手多学科研究（即土壤科学，植物科学，采矿工程，环境工程，地球化学），并向多学科领域的专家提供指导。美国学生将了解原材料负责提取的对国家经济福祉的有益和至关重要的知识。通过教师的指导，美国学生将获得高质量的国际研究经验，全球意识和文化经验，以​​扩大他们的世界观。能源的增加将有助于赞比亚和其他发展中国家提供清洁能源，并帮助满足不断增长的需求。技术目标是确定控制综合植物修复和生物燃料生产的有效性的地球化学和岩土技术参数。要测试的假设是，高蓄能器本地植物物种的提取率和生物燃料潜力是气候的函数，以及矿物废物垃圾场的组成和岩土技术的自然变化。次要目标是研究矿物废物对植物修复和生物燃料/生物能的快速，综合岩土和地球化学特征的可行性（即生物乙醇，生物埃希醇，生物柴油沼气/CNG和生物电性）在老矿场上的生产。该研究旨在快速地使用先进的岩土工程技术在选定的目标站点迅速表征旧矿物废物的特性，识别局部金属植物和伪金属分泌植物物种，这些物种可以定居，这些植物可以在重金属中高度污染，并识别并比较了最有效的当地高级植物，并鉴定了识别性高效应植物，并进行了识别量的超级药物，并进行了识别量。 该项目的结果将提高有关植物修复的知识，并利用本地可用的植物来减轻重金属污染的不利影响，同时将生物量转化为能量，从而减少对化石燃料和水力发电性的压力。该奖项颁发奖项。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并反映了通过评估的构成构成的依据和构造的依据。