Decision Based Environmentally Conscious Design

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The objective of this project is to develop a new normative design decision making methodology especially tailored to overcome cognitive biases associated with environmentally conscious design. Specifically, decision analytic procedures will be developed to direct a cost-effective product development process. A new technology being developed at the University of Illinois to capture and recover hazardous air pollutants from gas streams will be used as the test-bed. It captures dilute hazardous air pollutants from air and converts them to a pure liquid for reuse in the manufacturing process that generated the pollutant. Activated carbon fiber cloth is employed. The primary benefit of this research will be a shortened development time resulting in a product that will be more successful in the marketplace. The decision-based design methodology will be integrated into an industrially sponsored senior design course. The research and educational infrastructure will be improved by establishing this interdisciplinary collaboration, and also by development of new interdisciplinary course materials for both undergraduate and graduate courses in two different departments (General Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering). In addition, two Ph.D. students will be trained in this new research area. The results of this interdisciplinary research will be broadly disseminated across both civil and mechanical engineering research communities. Societal benefits also include a new technology that not only removes hazardous air pollutants, but also cost-effectively recovers them for reuse.