Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Protecting and Advancing Water-Energy-Environment and Sustainability (PAWES)

规划资助：保护和促进水-能源-环境与可持续发展工程研究中心（PAWES）

• 批准号: 1936936
• 负责人: Terry Hazen
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2021-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1936936&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Planning; Grant; Engineering; Research; Center

As the US becomes a leading producer of hydrocarbons in the world, sustainable practices are needed to leverage this new energy frontier while safeguarding against predicted water scarcity and drought. The proposed Engineering Research Center (ERC) will focus on the challenges related to hydrocarbon production. The Center will specifically address increase in water demand and wastewater sustainability as it relates to stakeholder concerns in rural and tribal communities. The planning grant aims to design the transformative systems approach needed to emphasize solutions that address social and environmental issues. The focus area is driven by the energy industry, which is responsible for up to 15% of total water withdraws worldwide. The planning grant will also bring together experts in the fields of engineering, microbiology, chemistry, environmental policy, economics, and community engagement. This team will develop an economically feasible approach, sustainable energy practices and policy, and revitalized rural communities. It will plan for an engineering system that integrates community perspectives into research, decision-making, and training with social justice, public perspectives, and multi-objective decision-making. The proposed Center will be led by the University of Tennessee with partners at Juniata College, Colorado State University, and Tennessee State University. The proposed ERC tackles important, complex, and socially-relevant topics such as water scarcity, energy security, and rural and tribal community development. The Center will target the "moonshot" initiative of treating hyper-saline O&G wastewater for industrial uses at $1/barrel. The major impact of this planning grant is to enable the effective evidence-based discussions between interdisciplinary leaders and stakeholders needed to achieve this bold target. Their input will be used to develop a sequence of wastewater management treatments designed to maximize recovery of O&G wastewater for reuse. Implications on water conservation, energy security, and rural and tribal workforce development will help country-wide society. For the proposed wastewater treatment protocols to be successful, basic research in microbiology, microbial ecology, environmental engineering, chemistry, and material science aided by advanced computational models will be needed. The planning process will be used to build effective and active networks, strengthen ongoing research efforts, inform and empower Appalachian and Tribal communities. In addition, the planning grant will be used to establish an integrated approach to engineering education that will teach students about community engagement, policy development, and science communications. These findings could be applied to other types of industrial and agricultural waste, expanding the Center's positive impact to other aspects of the US water supply system.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.

随着美国成为世界上领先的碳氢化合物生产国，需要可持续的做法来利用这一新的能源前沿，同时防止预测的水资源短缺和干旱。拟建的工程研究中心（ERC）将专注于与碳氢化合物生产相关的挑战。该中心将专门解决水需求和废水可持续性的增加，因为它涉及到农村和部落社区的利益攸关方的关切。规划赠款旨在设计所需的变革性系统方法，以强调解决社会和环境问题的解决方案。该重点领域由能源行业驱动，该行业占全球总取水量的15%。规划补助金还将汇集工程，微生物学，化学，环境政策，经济学和社区参与等领域的专家。该小组将制定经济上可行的方法、可持续能源做法和政策，并振兴农村社区。它将规划一个工程系统，将社区观点纳入研究，决策和培训，并具有社会正义，公众观点和多目标决策。拟议的中心将由田纳西大学牵头，与朱尼亚塔学院、科罗拉多州立大学和田纳西州立大学合作。拟议的ERC解决了重要，复杂和社会相关的主题，如水资源短缺，能源安全，农村和部落社区发展。该中心的目标是以1美元/桶的价格处理高盐O G废水用于工业用途的“登月”计划。这项规划补助金的主要影响是使跨学科领导者和利益相关者之间能够进行有效的循证讨论，以实现这一大胆的目标。他们的投入将用于开发一系列废水管理处理，旨在最大限度地回收O G废水进行再利用。 对水资源保护、能源安全以及农村和部落劳动力发展的影响将有助于全国社会。为了使拟议的废水处理方案取得成功，需要在先进的计算模型的帮助下进行微生物学、微生物生态学、环境工程、化学和材料科学的基础研究。规划过程将用于建立有效和积极的网络，加强正在进行的研究工作，通知和授权阿巴拉契亚和部落社区。此外，规划补助金将用于建立工程教育的综合方法，向学生传授社区参与，政策制定和科学传播。这些发现可以应用于其他类型的工业和农业废物，扩大该中心的积极影响，美国供水系统的其他方面。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。