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

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该奖项支持将堪萨斯州立大学德兰大厅约5237平方英尺的研究实验室改造和重新配置为生物能源和能源效率研究的合作研究套房。改造将创造一个围绕开放概念设计的研究实验室空间，供多位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、通风管道工作、排气和供应单元、配电系统、照明、管道和消防。总体而言，拟议的改造将建设两个灵活的化学工程实验室，用于化学制备，研究和计算。所有正在建造的新系统和空间都将是节能的，并为未来的扩展和研究提供灵活的空间。智力价值：开发可持续和经济上可行的能源是目前科学和工程面临的关键技术挑战之一。历史上，新技术的进步是通过对学术和工业“筒仓”中的众多组成部分进行集中研究，然后将这些发现整合到一个有效的系统中。由于每个组件都是独立开发的，因此集成可能需要数年时间，并且需要对单个技术进行大量改进。例如，重要的资源可能集中在一个设施成员的实验室从纤维素原料生产乙醇，但乙醇/水分离的非常重要的能源需求没有得到解决。另一位研究人员可能会尝试在另一个实验室解决乙醇/水分离问题。如果两个博士生在同一个空间并肩工作，而不是在实验室的“孤岛”里，那么将这些问题联系起来的协同作用可能会自然产生。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，由nsf支持的与替代燃料有关的地球、风和火的REU站点，以及堪萨斯生物精炼和生物能源创新中心。更广泛的影响：这些实验室将允许改进一种新的研究和研究培训模式，以系统为基础，将来自不同学科的学生彻底整合在合作研究空间中。该机构计划将其在这一领域的发现记录下来，发表在期刊文章中，并在国家会议上展示。

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.