INSPIRE: An Evolutionary Paradigm in Design and Engineering of Bio-Adhesives from Bio-mass

该INSPIRE项目由ENG董事会的CMMI和CBET部门，OISE和综合活动办公室共同资助。这项INSPIRE研究研究了从生物质（微藻、木质生物质和动物粪便）生产生物粘合剂所需的工艺，同时将环境可持续性指标纳入设计过程，以确保上级机械性能。考虑到沥青的严重短缺，这种生物粘合剂最容易进入的市场被设想为沥青市场。应该指出的是，在过去十年中，由于其供应量显著减少，液体沥青（在路面结构内将石头颗粒粘合在一起的粘合剂）的价格急剧上升。因此，欧盟和美国正在开发的生物基建筑粘合剂可能是减少道路建设行业对液体沥青资源依赖的解决方案。此外，INSPIRE项目中提出的生物粘合剂的生产可以作为一种从生物质废物中封存碳的手段，否则随着生物质逐渐腐烂，这些废物将被释放回大气。因此，与通常被认为是碳中性的木质生物质的自然腐烂相反，生物粘合剂过程是碳负的，因为来自生物质的超过60%的碳将被捕获在生物粘合剂中。该项目得益于法国和英国国际合作伙伴的经验，这将进一步使美国学者和学生能够在全球范围内参与，以加快知识发展和促进国家劳动力的多样性。生物粘合剂将从上述生物质资源中发现的一系列分子物种生产，同时整合环境可持续性指标以及健康和安全方面。将使用热化学液化过程，然后进行溶剂萃取、过滤和真空蒸馏，以从微藻、木质生物质和猪粪中提取一系列分子结构。密度泛函理论和分子动力学模拟沿着多尺度实验表征将用于确定每种特定的提取化合物如何与沥青中的稠合芳环相互作用。 这将通过促进电荷转移以及当暴露于衍生自生物质的特定官能团时改变芳环核心中的电子分布而反映在它们的堆叠中。这将有助于理解控制宏观材料行为的潜在相互作用机制，以促进生物粘合剂的设计。然后将选定的分子物种组装和共聚，以形成用于沥青的具有特定物理化学和形态学特性的生物粘合剂。

This INSPIRE project is jointly funded by the CMMI and CBET Divisions in the ENG Directorate, OISE, and the Office of Integrative Activities. This INSPIRE research studies the processes needed to produce bio-adhesives from bio-mass (micro-algae, woody biomass, and animal manure) while simultaneously integrating environmental sustainability metrics into the design process to ensure superior mechanical properties. Considering the significant shortage of asphalt, the most accessible market for such bio-adhesives is envisioned to be asphalt market. It should be noted that the price of liquid asphalt, the adhesive which bonds stone particles together within a pavement structure, has increased dramatically within the last decade as its supplies have been shrinking significantly. Accordingly, bio-based construction adhesives which are being developed in EU and US could be a solution to reduce dependence of road construction industry on the liquid asphalt resources. In addition, production of bio-adhesives as proposed in this INSPIRE project can be a means of sequestering carbon from bio-mass waste which will be otherwise released back to the atmosphere as bio-mass gradually decays. Therefore, in contrast to natural decay of woody bio-mass which is typically considered to be carbon neutral, the bio-adhesive process is carbon negative because more than 60% of carbon from bio-mass will be trapped in the bio-adhesive. The project benefits from experience of international partners in France and the U.K., which will further enable U.S. scholars and students to be globally engaged to expedite knowledge development and promote diversity in the national workforce.Bio-adhesives will be produced from an array of molecular species found in aforementioned bio-mass resources while simultaneously integrating environmental sustainability metrics as well as health and safety aspects. A thermochemical liquefaction process will be used, followed by solvent extraction, filtration and vacuum distillation to extract an array of molecular structures from micro-algae, woody bio-mass, and swine manure. Density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations along with multi-scale experimental characterization will be used to identify how each specific extracted compound interacts with fused aromatic rings in asphalt. This will be reflected in alteration of their stacking via promotion of charge transfer as well as change of electron distribution in the core of the aromatic rings when exposed to specific functional groups derived from bio-mass. This will help understand the underlying interaction mechanisms which control macro level material behavior to facilitate design of bio-adhesives. Selected molecular species will be then assembled and co-polymerized to form bio-adhesives with specific physiochemical and morphological properties for use in asphalt.