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

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，通过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老旧的遗留矿场，引起了科学界越来越大的兴趣。人们还有兴趣研究将补救与生产生物能源和其他生物产品相结合，以便以更可持续的方式采用植物补救办法。该项目将促进科罗拉多矿业学院、佐治亚学院和州立大学以及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不同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所产生的遗留影响进行为期六周的国际实地工作。该项目旨在a)为美国学生提供培养全球能力、技能和意识的国际研究经验，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，c)改善人类健康，并为赞比亚人提供替代能源。参赛的美国学生将获得批判性的行业和社会技能，如批判性思维、逻辑推理、解决问题、数据分析和解释、写作和结果展示。此外，美国学生获得的技能和知识将可以转移到美国，那里对更多可再生和清洁能源的需求很高。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中的多学科研究(即土壤科学、植物科学、采矿工程、环境工程、地球化学)，并得到多学科领域专家的指导。美国学生将了解到，负责任地提取原材料是如何有益于国家经济福祉的，也是至关重要的。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。能源的增加将有助于赞比亚和其他发展中国家当局提供清洁能源，并有助于满足日益增长的需求。技术目标是确定控制综合植物修复和生物燃料生产有效性的地球化学和岩土参数。需要检验的假设是，超积累植物本土物种的萃取率和生物燃料潜力是气候和矿山废弃场组成和岩土性质的自然变化的函数。第二个目标是研究对矿山废物进行快速、综合的岩土和地球化学表征，以便在老矿场进行植物修复和生产生物燃料/生物能源(即生物乙醇、生物柴油、沼气/天然气和生物电力)的可行性。这项研究的目的是利用先进的岩土工程技术，快速确定选定目标地点的旧矿山废物倾倒场的特性，确定能够在重金属高度污染的地点定居的当地金属植物和假金属植物物种，确定和比较最有效的当地超积累植物，并调查已确定的超积累植物的生物燃料/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智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.