CAREER: Biological Production of Carbonates for Sustainable Cementitious Materials

该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）补助金将利用生物过程来创造用于水泥和混凝土的功能性碳储存矿物。混凝土是地球上仅次于水的第二大消耗材料。因此，其生产、使用和处置会对全球环境产生影响。仅水泥生产就占全球二氧化碳排放量的22亿吨或6%。鉴于全球对混凝土材料用矿物骨料的需求每年超过500亿吨，利用生物过程生产用于水泥浆、砂浆和混凝土的储碳矿物是一个巨大的机会。该研究项目将利用微生物诱导碳酸钙沉淀的生物机制来产生碳储存纳米和微米级矿物，并将研究它们对混凝土性能的影响。这项研究将辅之以教育和辅导活动，旨在教育公众了解低碳建筑的好处，同时培养一个新的，包容的，本项目的具体研究目标是利用基因工程菌和其他光合微生物生产生物沉淀碳酸钙纳米颗粒，形态结构将工程菌菌株产生的碳酸盐的形态和纳米机械性质与天然碳酸盐产生菌株产生的碳酸盐的形态和纳米机械性质进行比较。将使用基于过程的生命周期评估对每种菌株产生的碳酸盐的碳储存潜力进行量化和比较。最后，生物碳酸盐纳米颗粒添加剂对水泥浆的新鲜和硬化状态性能的结构-性能关系将被调查，以通知生物矿物在水泥浆，砂浆和混凝土中的使用的工程规范。该项目的教育目标是：（1）在生命材料实验室的经验中指导新一代、多样化的材料科学家，这将促进在合成生物学和土木工程的交叉点上创建一个新学科;（2）通过举办碳智能建筑材料峰会来传播生物建筑材料的好处;以及（3）通过参与和指导跨学科材料科学研究，为女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋或变性工程专业的学生创造研究生院的途径。该项目将为PI实现将建筑环境从碳排放器转变为碳汇的长期职业目标奠定科学基础，同时扩大多样性，包容性，教育，下一个培训-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估被认为值得支持。影响审查标准。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will leverage biological processes to create functional carbon-storing minerals for use in cement and concrete. Concrete is the second-most consumed material on earth after water. Its production, use, and disposal therefore have global environmental consequences. The production of cement alone accounts for 2.2 billion tons—or 6%—of global carbon dioxide emissions. Given that global demand for mineral aggregates for concrete materials exceeds 50 billion tons per year, a grand opportunity exists to leverage biological processes to produce carbon-storing minerals for use in cement paste, mortar, and concrete. This research project will exploit biological mechanisms of microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation to produce carbon-storing nano- and microscale minerals and will study their effect on properties of concrete. The research will be complemented by education and mentoring activities designed to educate the public on the benefits of low-carbon construction, while cultivating a new, inclusive, and diverse generation of interdisciplinary materials scientists and civil engineers.The specific research goal of this project is to use genetically engineered bacteria and other photosynthetic microorganisms to produce biologically precipitated calcium carbonate nanoparticles with distinct morphological architectures. Morphologies and nanomechanical properties of carbonates produced by engineered bacteria strains will be compared to those produced by native carbonate-producing strains. The carbon storage potential of carbonates produced by each strain will be quantified and compared using process-based life cycle assessment. Finally, structure-property relationships of biogenic carbonate nanoparticle additions on both fresh- and hardened-state properties of cement paste will be investigated to inform engineering specifications for biomineral use in cement paste, mortar, and concrete. The education goals of this project are (1) to mentor a new, diverse generation of materials scientists in a Living Materials Laboratory experience that will foster the creation of a new discipline at the intersection of synthetic biology and civil engineering; (2) to disseminate benefits of biological building materials by hosting a Carbon-Smart Building Materials Summit; and (3) to create graduate school pathways for lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender engineering students by engaging and mentoring them in interdisciplinary materials science research. This project will lay the scientific foundation for the PI to achieve his long-term career goals of transforming the built environment from a carbon emitter into a carbon sink, while broadening the diversity, inclusion, education, and training of next-generation materials scientists and civil engineers.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.