FMRG: Eco: CAS-Climate: Sustainable Manufacturing Using Living Organisms and Agriculturally Derived Materials

FMRG：生态：CAS-气候：利用活有机体和农业衍生材料的可持续制造

• 批准号: 2308575
• 负责人: Zhijian Pei
• 金额: $ 300万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308575&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: FMRG; Eco; CAS; Climate; Sustainable

This Future Manufacturing Research Grant in Ecomanufacturing will generate knowledge that enables 3D printing-based methods to manufacture environmentally friendly products using living organisms (algae, bacteria, and fungi) and agriculturally derived materials (biomass and corn plastics). Different from petroleum-based plastics, agriculturally derived materials are biodegradable and abundant on this planet. However, they have been grossly undervalued and misused. For example, biomass is generally considered solid waste that is downcycled to fire fuel or fertilizer, or shipped to landfills. Inspired by biological systems that involve living cells to bind and metabolize biomass, the team proposes a new manufacturing method by harnessing living organisms to bind agriculturally derived materials and 3D printing products using living-cell bridged biocomposites. These products have broad applications in packaging, furniture, construction, and even space habitats. The widespread use of the new method will make many products and their manufacturing more environmentally friendly, create domestic manufacturing-related jobs, and use more materials readily available in the United States. Additionally, the project has an integrated education and workforce development plan to train the future workforce through a variety of activities, such as developing a new course and textbook on Ecomanufacturing using living organisms, establishing a website related to Ecomanufacturing, involving undergraduate students in research, upskilling workforce through collaboration with 2-year colleges and industry, and conducting both formative and summative evaluations on these activities.The project aims to understand the science of 3D printing-based manufacturing methods using living organisms and agriculturally derived materials. The central hypothesis is that modulating interactions between living organisms and agriculturally derived materials via advanced manufacturing processes will lead to reliable manufacturing of products from sustainable biocomposites. Driven by this hypothesis, the team will take experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches to systematically study the effects of manufacturing processes on printability, cell viability, physical properties, recyclability, degradability, and full life-cycle analysis of the products manufactured using biocomposites. The entire manufacturing lifecycle of the new 3D printing-based method will be considered, including feedstock material production, service, and end-of-life, as well as energy consumption, health and environmental impact, and cost effectiveness. Convergence research will be performed by a team with expertise in biology, engineering, and educational administration, with collaboration from industry. This Future Manufacturing award was supported by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, the Division of Materials Research, the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, and the Division of Undergraduate Education.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.

这项生态制造领域的未来制造研究补助金将产生知识，使基于 3D 打印的方法能够利用活生物体（藻类、细菌和真菌）和农业衍生材料（生物质和玉米塑料）制造环保产品。与石油基塑料不同，农业衍生材料是可生物降解的，并且在这个星球上储量丰富。然而，它们的价值被严重低估和滥用。例如，生物质通常被认为是固体废物，可被降级循环为燃料或肥料，或运往垃圾填埋场。受涉及活细胞结合和代谢生物质的生物系统的启发，该团队提出了一种新的制造方法，利用活细胞桥接生物复合材料利用活生物体结合农业衍生材料和 3D 打印产品。这些产品在包装、家具、建筑甚至太空栖息地方面有着广泛的应用。新方法的广泛使用将使许多产品及其制造更加环保，创造与国内制造业相关的就业机会，并使用更多美国现成的材料。此外，该项目还有一个综合教育和劳动力发展计划，通过各种活动培训未来的劳动力，例如开发利用生物体进行生态制造的新课程和教科书，建立一个与生态制造相关的网站，让本科生参与研究，通过与两年制大学和工业界合作，提高劳动力技能，并对这些活动进行形成性和总结性评估。该项目旨在了解使用生物体和农业衍生材料的基于 3D 打印的制造方法的科学性。中心假设是，通过先进的制造工艺调节生物体和农业衍生材料之间的相互作用将导致可持续生物复合材料产品的可靠制造。在这一假设的推动下，该团队将采用实验、理论和计算方法来系统地研究制造工艺对使用生物复合材料制造的产品的可印刷性、细胞活力、物理特性、可回收性、可降解性以及全生命周期分析的影响。将考虑基于 3D 打印的新方法的整个制造生命周期，包括原料生产、服务和报废，以及能源消耗、健康和环境影响以及成本效益。融合研究将由具有生物学、工程和教育管理专业知识的团队与业界合作进行。 该未来制造奖得到了土木、机械和制造创新部、材料研究部、工程教育和中心部以及本科生教育部的支持。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来提供支持。