CAREER: CAS- Climate: Engineering greenhouse gas-sequestering infrastructure materials through integrated life cycle and material performance analysis

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。社会面临的一个关键挑战是协调对基础设施材料日益增长的需求和实现减轻进一步气候损害的目标。基础设施材料会导致制造业排放大量温室气体(GHG)。然而，基础设施材料有一个巨大的潜在环境效益：它们的长期使用寿命可以促进温室气体的长期储存，特别是通过在其结构中隔离碳。木材是一种建筑材料，它通过光合作用将大气中的碳结合起来，从而隔离大气中的碳。混凝土和其他建筑基础设施材料也能够隔离碳。仍然需要一个理论和经验基础，以便在此基础上建立和利用这个机会。这项研究的目标是形成对驱动机制的新理解，以设计基础设施材料来隔离温室气体，同时将基础设施材料的生产对环境的影响降至最低。重点将放在基础设施木材、混凝土和塑料上，最终理解这些材料的全球封存潜力。这项研究将被纳入教育目标，即扩大未被充分代表的群体对工程的参与，并向未来的工程师灌输环境可持续性的观点。这项研究将通过三部分方法实施：(1)推导所需的方法，以了解资源流动和工艺选择对基础设施材料的环境影响的影响。(2)将材料性能纳入环境影响比较，以了解如何设计新材料用于温室气体封存。(3)阐明基础设施材料中温室气体封存的驱动机制。这项研究将通过耦合概率环境影响评估和材料性能建模来研究设计温室气体封存基础设施材料的系统方法。具体地说，研究目标：(1)确定与未研究的资源流动有关的环境影响的特征；(2)了解生产基础设施材料对环境影响和影响不确定性的最大驱动因素，以及降低这些影响的机制；(3)制定模型，将材料性能与与材料生产、寿命和处置有关的温室气体通量联系起来，以确定发生温室气体封存的阈值和新材料的封存潜力；以及(4)发现管理物质资源以推动温室气体封存的最有效战略。这项工作将阐明材料技术的新机会，并有可能转移到其他类别的材料和化学品。教育目标将通过三项任务实现：(1)建立一个互动博物馆展览，展示人类物质需求对环境的影响，以支持K-12学生的环境素养。(2)开办社区参与的大学一年级本科课程研究体验，目的是吸引和留住工程学中代表性不足的群体。(3)将研究成果纳入新版《混凝土：微结构、性能和材料》的一章，这是一本全球使用的毕业教科书。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). A critical challenge facing society is reconciling the growing demand for infrastructure materials, which cause significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from manufacturing, with meeting goals to mitigate further climate damage. Yet there is a substantial potential environmental benefit of infrastructure materials: their long service lives can facilitate extended storage of GHGs, in particular by sequestering carbon in their structures. Wood is an example of a material of construction that sequesters atmospheric carbon by incorporating it through photosynthesis. Concrete and other infrastructure materials of construction are also able to sequester carbon. There remains a need for a theoretical and empirical foundation from which to build and capitalize on this opportunity. The goal of this research is to formulate new understanding of driving mechanisms to engineer infrastructure materials to sequester GHGs, while minimizing environmental impacts stemming from the production of infrastructure materials. The focus will be on infrastructure woods, concrete, and plastics, culminating in an understanding of the global sequestration potential from these materials. This research will be integrated into the educational goals of broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering and instilling an environmental sustainability perspective for future engineers. This research will be implemented through a three-part methodology: (1) Deriving methods needed to understand the effects of resource flows and process selection on the environmental impacts from infrastructure materials. (2) Integrating material performance into environmental impact comparisons to understand how new materials can be engineered for GHG sequestration. (3) Elucidating mechanisms to drive GHG sequestration in infrastructure materials. This research will investigate a systematic approach to engineering GHG-sequestering infrastructure materials through coupled probabilistic environmental impact assessment and material performance modeling. Specifically, the research targets: (1) characterizing the environmental impacts associated with unstudied resource flows; (2) understanding the largest drivers in environmental impacts and impact uncertainties from producing infrastructure materials, as well as mechanisms to lower them; (3) formulating models to link material performance to GHG-fluxes associated with material production, longevity, and disposal to determine thresholds at which GHG-sequestration occurs and sequestration potential for new materials; and (4) discovering the most effective strategies to manage material resources to drive GHG-sequestration. This work will elucidate new opportunities for material technologies, with potential to transfer to other classes of materials and to chemicals. The educational goals will be achieved through three tasks: (1) Constructing an interactive museum exhibit showing environmental impacts from anthropogenic material demand to support environmental literacy in K-12 students. (2) Initiating a community-engaged first-year undergraduate course-based research experience with the aim of attracting and retaining underrepresented groups in engineering. (3) Incorporating research findings into a chapter for the new edition of “Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials,” a globally used graduate textbook.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.