Sustainable Energy Solutions via Systems-Based Research: Modernizing the Sustainable Energy Research Infrastructure in Durland Hall

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏与再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。该奖项支持将堪萨斯州立大学达兰厅约5,237平方英尺的研究实验室翻新和重新配置为生物能源和能源效率研究的合作研究室。此次翻修将创建研究实验室空间，该空间围绕开放的概念设计，供多名研究人员和从事多个项目的研究生进行研究。更具体地说，翻新将包括拆除或翻新：墙壁、门和硬件、地板和天花板饰面、通风管道工程、排气和供电装置、配电系统、照明、管道和消防。总体而言，拟议的翻新将建造两个灵活的化学工程实验室，用于化学准备、研究和计算。所有正在建设的新系统和空间对于未来的扩展和研究都将是节能和灵活的。智力价值：可持续和经济可行的能源的开发是目前科学和工程面临的关键技术挑战之一。从历史上看，新技术是通过对学术和工业“竖井”中的许多组件进行重点研究并随后将这些发现整合到一个有效的系统中来推进的。由于每个组件都是独立开发的，集成可能需要数年时间，并且需要对各个技术进行重大改进。例如，大量的资源可能集中在一个设施成员的实验室中，用于从纤维素原料生产乙醇，但没有解决乙醇/水分离的非常重要的能源需求。另一位研究人员可能会在另一个实验室尝试解决乙醇/水的分离问题。如果两名博士生在同一空间并肩工作，而不是在实验室的“筒仓”中工作，那么这些问题之间的协同作用可能会自然出现。使用新的实验室套件，研究人员将拥有工具来开发解决方案，以解决21世纪工程师面临的重大挑战之一：可持续能源生产。将使用翻新设施的研究活动包括由NSF支持的关于整合可持续和可再生生物精炼的社会、技术和农业方面的IGERT奖，NSF支持的与替代燃料相关的地球、风和火上的REU站点，以及堪萨斯生物精炼和生物能源创新中心。广泛的影响：这些实验室将允许改进新的研究和研究培训模式，以系统为重点，彻底将来自不同学科的学生整合到协作研究空间中。该机构计划记录其在这一领域的发现，将其发表在期刊文章中，并在国家会议上发表。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award supports the renovation and reconfiguration of approximately 5,237 square feet of research laboratories at Kansas State University's Durland Hall into collaborative research suites for bioenergy and energy efficiency research. The renovation will create research laboratory space that is designed around an open concept for research by multiple researchers and graduate students working on multiple projects. More specifically, the renovation will consist of demolishing or renovating: walls, doors and hardware, floor and ceiling finishes, ventilation duct work, exhaust and supply units, power distribution systems, lighting, plumbing, and fire protection. Overall, the proposed renovation will construct two flexible Chemical Engineering laboratories for chemical preparation, research, and computation. All new systems and space being constructed will be energy efficient and flexible for future expansion and research.Intellectual Merit: The development of sustainable and economically viable energy sources is one of the key technological challenges currently facing science and engineering. New technologies historically have been advanced through focused research on numerous components in academic and industrial "silos" and the subsequent integration of these discoveries into an efficient system. Because each component was independently developed, integration can take years and require significant refinement of the individual technologies. For example, significant resources may be focused in one facility member's lab to produce ethanol from cellulosic feedstock, but the very significant energy need of ethanol/water separation is not addressed. Another researcher may try to address the ethanol/water separation in another lab. The synergy of connecting these issues may naturally arise if two doctoral students worked side by side in the same space, not in laboratory "silos." Using the new laboratory suites, researchers will have the tools to develop solutions to one of the grand challenges facing engineers in the 21st century: Sustainable Energy Production. Research activities that will use the renovated facility include an NSF-supported IGERT award on Integrating the Social, Technological, and Agricultural Aspects of Sustainable and Renewable Biorefining, an NSF-supported REU site on Earth, Wind, and Fire that relates to alternative fuels, and the Kansas Center of Innovation in BioRefining and BioEnergy.Broader Impacts: These laboratories will allow for the refinement of a new research and research training model with a systems-based focus that thoroughly integrates students from various disciplines in collaborative research spaces. The institution plans on documenting its findings in this area, publishing them in journal articles, and presenting them at national conferences.