FMSG: Biologically Assembled and Recycled Construction and Structural Materials (BRICS)

水泥和混凝土建筑材料在建筑环境中无处不在，但需要大量的能源、时间、劳动力和材料来制造。水泥制造需要高温处理，与人为碳排放的5- 9%有关。混凝土，包括水泥和细骨料和粗骨料，需要越来越稀缺的材料。大多数水泥和混凝土建筑材料不能重复使用或回收。在这个未来制造种子资助（FMSG）项目中，研究人员将开发可重复使用和可回收的模块化建筑材料，这些材料是由微生物通过生物矿化和生物粘合的过程生产的。研究生和本科生将参与该项目，并在生态制造、土木工程、材料科学和微生物学方面进行跨学科培训。高中教师也将参与研究项目，并将开展基于生物凝固的课堂活动。K-12课程教材将广泛分发。此外，还将编写生态制造方面的教学材料，并将其分发给当地一所社区大学。研究人员将在建筑和基础设施材料的生态制造新范式中迈出第一步，克服传统混凝土制造对材料、时间、能源和劳动力的高需求。他们将利用微生物构建、可逆联锁（实现再利用）、分解和回收模块化建筑材料（MBMs）。这些MBMs可以组装成承重结构和基础设施。当不再需要这些结构时，可以将这些MBMs分离，然后在不同的结构中再次联锁，或者将其分解并循环用于下一代MBMs。在本种子基金中，研究人员将探索四个主要挑战，以确定微生物在生态制造建筑材料中的潜力：(1)使用真菌和/或细菌构建MBMs，(2)使用生物矿物胶可逆地联锁MBMs，(3)使用真菌代谢将MBMs分解为其组分，以及(4)将组分回收为新的MBMs。该项目由工程理事会的土木、机械和制造创新部门、刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和生物科学理事会共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cement and concrete building materials are ubiquitous in the built environment but require high energy, time, labor, and material resources to manufacture. Cement manufacturing necessitates high temperature processing, and is associated with 5-9 percent of anthropogenic carbon emissions. Concrete, which includes cement and fine and coarse aggregates, requires increasingly scarce materials. Most cement and concrete building materials cannot be reused or recycled. In this Future Manufacturing Seed Grant (FMSG) project, the investigators will develop reusable and recyclable modular building materials that are produced by microorganisms via a processes known as biomineralization and biocementation. Graduate and undergraduate students will participate in this project and gai interdisciplinary training in ecomanufacturing, civil engineering, material science and microbiology. High school teachers will also be engaged in the research project and will develop classroom activities based on biocemetation. K-12 classroom materials will be widely disseminated. In addition, instructional materials in ecomanufacturing will be developed and disseminated to a local community college.The investigators will pursue the first steps in a new paradigm for the eco-manufacturing of building and infrastructure materials that overcomes the high material, time, energy, and labor needs of traditional concrete manufacturing. They will use microbes to construct, reversibly interlock (enabling re-use), break down and recycle modular building materials (MBMs). These MBMs could be assembled to build load-bearing structures and infrastructure. When the structures are no longer wanted, the MBMs could either be separated and then interlocked again in a different structure or broken down and recycled for the next generation of MBMs. In this Seed Grant, the investigators will explore four primary challenges to identify the potential for microbes in eco-manufacturing building materials: (1) Constructing MBMs using fungi and/or bacteria, (2) Reversibly interlocking the MBMs using biomineral glues, (3) Breaking down the MBMs to their components using fungal metabolisms, and (4) Recycling the components into new MBMs.This project is jointly funded by the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation Division of the Engineering Directorate, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Biological Sciences Directorate.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.