NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Using Recycled Glass Sand to Promote Resilience and the Blue Economy in Coastal Communities

提案编号2137730 NSF融合加速器轨道E：使用抛光玻璃砂，以促进沿海社区的弹性和蓝色经济人们依赖沿海资源的食物，水和能源。然而，上世纪对这些自然资源的开采导致了污染和沿海土地的丧失。保护和恢复沿海环境，同时继续支持当地经济，从来没有像现在这样紧迫。该项目的愿景是在沿海社区建立回收计划，将玻璃从垃圾填埋场转移到玻璃砂产品中，以恢复海岸和保护历史遗迹。在这种“网络化蓝色经济”的方法中，还创造了新产品，为运营玻璃回收设施创造收入。该项目与总部位于新奥尔良的玻璃回收创业公司Glass Half Full合作，汇集了来自化学工程，土木和环境工程，河流和海岸工程以及生态学和进化生物学领域的当地大学研究人员，以确定回收玻璃产品的新市场，确定回收玻璃砂应用于防止沿海土地流失，确保再生玻璃砂在沿海环境中使用安全，并让当地美洲原住民社区参与保护目前受到土地流失威胁的重要文化遗址。该项目还将为所有年龄段的当地学生创造服务，研究和培训机会，以了解技术，经济，历史和沿海环境之间复杂，不断变化的联系。一个以玻璃回收为基础的网络化蓝色经济将通过一种融合的研究方法在大新奥尔良地区建立，这种方法汇集了能够吸引广泛利益相关者利益的多个科学和工程学科，潜在的行业合作伙伴（化学工程）到自然资源保护团体（生态学）到家园受到沿海土地流失威胁的居民（接受社区参与培训的实践教授）向目前在这一领域（河流和海岸科学与工程）工作的政府和非营利团体的广泛网络提供培训。该研究计划加速了实验室材料创新转化为实践，并考虑了工程，生态，社会和经济等各个方面，以实现以下可交付成果：（i）开发增值产品并确定这些产品的潜在市场，包括（a）对再循环玻璃砂的刺激响应性天然粘土颗粒基添加剂，其释放表面活性剂以隔离油，仅在需要时加入化学污染物和（B）用天然聚合物添加剂处理以改善材料性能的回收玻璃砂（例如，耐腐蚀性）;（ii）获得相关州和联邦机构的批准，在路易斯安那州海岸使用再生玻璃砂作为侵蚀控制产品;（iii）传播植被生态测试和海洋动物悬浮沉积物暴露实验的结果，以向保护团体和居民证明安全性;（iv）通过结合海岸建模和社区参与来确定示范项目地点; ㈤通过以下方式扩大参与：（a）与沿海美洲原住民社区联系，以确定受到沿海土地流失威胁的历史遗址;（B）通过杜兰生态学和进化生物学系以及化学和生物分子工程系的选修课和核心课程，让本科生参与服务学习和研究项目;（c）研究生和本科生参加跨学科研究项目会议;以及（d）开发一个K-12土壤稳定外联讲习班，向与美国土著社区合作的学生提供，以及杜兰大学一年两次的外联方案，杜兰大学的STEM女孩和杜兰大学的STEM男孩，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影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Proposal # 2137730 NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Using Recycled Glass Sand to Promote Resilience and the Blue Economy in Coastal CommunitiesPeople rely on coastal resources for food, water, and energy. However, extraction of these natural resources over the last century has led to pollution and coastal land loss. Protecting and restoring coastal environments, while continuing to support local economies, has never been more urgent. This project’s vision is to establish recycling programs in coastal communities that will divert glass from landfills and turn it into glass sand products to restore coasts and preserve historic sites. In this “networked blue economy” approach, new products are also created to generate revenue for operating the glass recycling facilities. In partnership with the New Orleans-based glass recycling startup company Glass Half Full, this project brings together local university researchers from the fields of chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, river and coastal engineering, and ecology and evolutionary biology to identify new markets for recycled glass products, determine where recycled glass sand should be used to prevent coastal land loss, ensure that recycled glass sand is safe to use in coastal environments, and engage local Native American communities in preserving important cultural sites that are currently threatened by land loss. This project will also create service, research, and training opportunities for local students of all ages to learn about the complex, ever-changing connections between technology, economics, history, and the coastal environment. A networked blue economy based on glass recycling will be established in the greater New Orleans area through a convergent research approach that brings together multiple science and engineering disciplines capable of engaging a broad range of stakeholder interests, from potential industry partners (chemical engineering) to conservationist groups (ecology) to residents whose homes are threatened by coastal land loss (professors of practice with training in community engagement) to the wide network of government and non-profit groups currently working in this area (river and coastal science and engineering). The research plan accelerates the translation of laboratory materials innovation into practice with consideration of all perspectives – engineering, ecological, societal, and economic – to accomplish the following deliverables: (i) develop value-added products and identify potential markets for these products, including (a) stimuli-responsive natural clay particle-based additives to recycled glass sand that release surfactants to sequester oil/chemical contaminants only when needed and (b) recycled glass sand treated with natural polymeric additives to improve material properties (e.g., erosion resistance); (ii) obtain approval from relevant State and Federal agencies for use of recycled glass sand as an Erosion Control Product on the Louisiana coast; (iii) disseminate results of vegetation ecological testing and suspended sediment exposure experiments with marine animals to demonstrate safety to conservation groups and residents; (iv) identify demonstration project sites by combining coastal modeling and community engagement; (v) broaden participation through (a) outreach to coastal Native American communities to identify historic sites threatened by coastal land loss; (b) engagement of undergraduate students in service-learning and research projects through elective and core courses in the Tulane Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Departments; (c) participation of graduate and undergraduate students in cross-disciplinary research project meetings; and (d) development of a K-12 outreach workshop on soil stabilization to be delivered to students in partnering Native American communities as well as Tulane’s biannual outreach programs, Girls in STEM at Tulane and Boys at Tulane in STEM, which recruit more than 50% of their participating students from underrepresented groups and under-resourced schools in the New Orleans area.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.