IRES Track I: Rapid, Integrated Geotechnical and Geochemical Characterization of Mine Waste for Phytoremediation and Biofuel/Bioenergy Production

IRES 轨道 I：用于植物修复和生物燃料/生物能源生产的矿山废物的快速、综合岩土工程和地球化学表征

• 批准号: 2107177
• 负责人: Samuel Mutiti
• 金额: $ 16.6万
• 依托单位: Georgia College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2107177&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Track; Rapid; Integrated; Geotechnical

The transition to renewable energies requires mining raw materials to develop and sustain these sources of energy. Unfortunately, mining has historically created a legacy of heavy metal contamination all over the world. Heavy metal pollution is a serious global challenge that threatens human life and food security. In recent years, simultaneous clean-up of old, legacy mine sites using phytoremediation and valuable metal production from the harvested plants has generated increased interest in the scientific community. There is further interest in investigating the integration of remediation with the production of bioenergy and other bio-based products for a more sustainable approach to plant-based remediation approaches. This project will foster research collaboration between Colorado School of Mines, Georgia College & State University, and foreign collaborators at the University of Zambia. Each year, a diverse group of four undergraduate and two graduate students will work with US and Zambian mentors to conduct six weeks of international field work on the legacy impacts of mining, phytoremediation, and the integration of phytoremediation with bioenergy production. This project aims to a) provide US students with international research experiences that develop global competence skills and awareness, b) increase knowledge and understanding of simultaneous use of plants for phytoremediation and clean energy production, and c) improve human health and provide alternative sources of energy for Zambians. Participating US students will acquire critical industry and societal skills such as critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem solving, data analysis and interpretation, writing, and presentation of results. In addition, the skills and knowledge acquired by US students will be transferable to the US, where the need for more renewable and clean energies are in high demand. Recruitment efforts will focus on attracting students from underrepresented groups in the Earth and environment science fields to increase their representation. The project will expose students to hands-on multidisciplinary research (i.e. soil science, plant science, mining engineering, environmental engineering, geochemistry) and mentoring from experts in multi-disciplinary fields. The US students will gain knowledge on how responsible extraction of raw material is beneficial and crucial to national economic well-being. Through faculty mentoring, US students will gain high quality international research experience, global awareness and cultural experiences to broaden their world views. The increase in energy sources would help the authorities in Zambia and other developing countries supply clean energy and help meet the ever-increasing demand. The technical objective is to identify geochemical and geotechnical parameters that control the effectiveness of integrated phytoremediation and biofuel production. The hypothesis to be tested is that extraction rates and biofuel potential of hyper accumulator native plant species are a function of climate and the natural variation in the composition and geotechnical properties of mine waste dumps. A secondary objective is to investigate the feasibility of rapid, integrated geotechnical and geochemical characterization of mine waste for phytoremediation and biofuel/bioenergy (i.e., bioethanol, biodiesel biogas/CNG and bioelectricity) production at old mine sites. The study aims to rapidly characterize the properties of old mine waste dumps at selected target sites using advanced geotechnical engineering techniques, identify local metallophyte and pseudometallophyte plant species that can colonize sites that have been highly polluted with heavy metals, identify and compare the most efficient local hyperaccumulator plants, and investigate the biofuel/bioenergy potential of the identified hyperaccumulators. Results from this project will advance knowledge in phytoremediation and the utilization of locally available plants to mitigate adverse health effects of heavy metal pollution while converting biomass to energy, and thereby reducing pressure on fossil fuels and hydroelectricity.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.

向可再生能源的过渡需要开采原材料来开发和维持这些能源。不幸的是，采矿在历史上造成了世界各地的重金属污染。重金属污染是严重威胁人类生命和粮食安全的全球性挑战。近年来，科学界对利用植物修复和从收获的植物中生产有价值的金属来同时清理旧的遗留矿址的兴趣越来越大。人们还有兴趣研究将补救与生物能源和其他生物基产品的生产结合起来，以更可持续的方式对待植物基补救办法。该项目将促进科罗拉多矿业学院、格鲁吉亚学院州立大学和赞比亚大学的外国合作者之间的研究合作。每年，由四名本科生和两名研究生组成的多元化小组将与美国和赞比亚的导师合作，就采矿，植物修复以及植物修复与生物能源生产的整合的遗留影响进行为期六周的国际实地工作。该项目旨在a）为美国学生提供国际研究经验，培养全球竞争力技能和意识，B）增加对同时使用植物进行植物修复和清洁能源生产的知识和理解，以及c）改善人类健康并为赞比亚人提供替代能源。参与的美国学生将获得关键的行业和社会技能，如批判性思维，逻辑推理，解决问题，数据分析和解释，写作和结果演示。此外，美国学生获得的技能和知识将转移到美国，那里需要更多的可再生和清洁能源。招聘工作将侧重于吸引来自地球和环境科学领域代表性不足群体的学生，以增加他们的代表性。该项目将使学生接触到实践性的多学科研究（即土壤科学，植物科学，采矿工程，环境工程，地球化学）和多学科领域专家的指导。美国学生将获得有关如何负责任地提取原材料是有益的，对国家经济福祉至关重要的知识。通过教师指导，美国学生将获得高质量的国际研究经验，全球意识和文化经验，以拓宽他们的世界观。能源来源的增加将有助于赞比亚和其他发展中国家当局供应清洁能源，并有助于满足不断增长的需求。技术目标是确定控制综合植物补救和生物燃料生产有效性的地球化学和岩土参数。有待检验的假设是，超富集植物本地植物物种的提取率和生物燃料潜力是气候和矿山废物倾倒区成分和岩土性质的自然变化的函数。第二个目标是调查矿山废物的快速、综合岩土工程和地球化学表征的可行性，以用于植物修复和生物燃料/生物能源（即，生物乙醇、生物柴油沼气/CNG和生物电）生产。该研究的目的是利用先进的岩土工程技术，在选定的目标地点迅速确定旧矿山废物倾倒场的特性，确定当地金属植物和假植物物种，这些植物物种可以在重金属高度污染的地点定居，确定和比较最有效的当地超富集植物，并调查所确定的超富集植物的生物燃料/生物能源潜力。 该项目的成果将促进植物修复和利用当地可用植物的知识，以减轻重金属污染对健康的不利影响，同时将生物质转化为能源，从而减少对化石燃料和水电的压力。该奖项反映了NSF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。