Innovative Fungi Fiber Reinforced Soil for Sustainable Soil Improvements

该项目旨在探索一种创新的生物介导纤维增强土壤概念，可以显着提高土壤抗侵蚀能力。河流或风力造成的土壤侵蚀会造成严重的环境和经济后果。据估计，美国农田土壤侵蚀的成本每年高达440亿美元。与建筑或采矿活动有关的风力引起的土壤侵蚀，即，粉尘对空气质量产生负面影响，从而影响工人及其社区和环境的健康。桥梁基础周围的土壤侵蚀（即，桥梁冲刷）是造成桥梁破坏的第一大原因。提高土壤抗侵蚀性需要增强颗粒间的结合，这通常通过使用化学品如石灰或水泥来实现。然而，这种处理是不可持续的，因为这些化学品的生产消耗不可再生资源，并产生显著的碳足迹。这项创新研究将利用纤维真菌，一种土壤中丰富的微生物，通过以下方式实现环境友好，可持续的土壤改良：1）通过真菌诱导的生物粘附和纤维网络增强土壤微观结构，2）利用真菌纤维的疏水性来减少流动水引起的界面侵蚀剪切应力。该项目将为研究生和本科生提供跨学科研究课题的机会。招聘工作将强调让女生和少数民族学生参与。这项研究将纳入教学材料。项目成果将通过在凯斯西储大学校园内开展的各种外联活动并与当地社区合作传播。 这项研究的目标是了解真菌和土壤之间的多尺度相互作用，因此，提供关于如何定制真菌-土壤相互作用以提高土壤抗侵蚀性的见解。 本研究的主要目的是：1）研究真菌与土壤的拓扑相互作用、真菌对土壤微结构的适应和对生物刺激的响应，以设计真菌纤维在土壤中生长的策略; 2）了解真菌与土壤颗粒之间的物理化学相互作用，以指导真菌纤维对土壤工程行为影响的模型开发; 3）真菌对土壤宏观性能的影响，如土壤团聚体、纤维增强、土壤水分特性、土壤运移特性等，以及真菌如何提高土壤抗侵蚀能力。该研究将产生关于真菌-土壤相互作用的基础知识，并量化其对土壤工程性质的影响。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。

This project aims to explore an innovative bio-mediated fiber reinforced soil concept that can significantly improve soil erosion resistance. Soil erosion by stream or wind causes significant environmental and economic consequences. The estimated cost of soil erosion on the US farmland is as high as $44 billion per year. Wind-induced soil erosion associated with construction or mining activities, i.e., dust, negatively impacts air quality and consequently the health of workers, their communities, and the environment. Soil erosion around bridge foundations (i.e., bridge scour) is the No. 1 cause of bridge failures. Improvement of soil erosion resistance requires enhancing the inter-particle bonds, which is commonly achieved by use of chemicals such as lime or cement. Such treatments, however, are not sustainable since the production of these chemicals consumes nonrenewable resources and produces significant carbon footprints. This innovative research will leverage fibrous fungi, a microorganism abundant in soils, to achieve environmentally-benign, sustainable soil improvement by: 1) reinforcing the soil microstructure with the fungi-induced bio-adhesion and fiber network, and 2) leveraging the hydrophobic nature of fungi fibers to reduce the interfacial erosive shear stress induced by flowing water. The project will provide graduate and undergraduate students opportunities to work on an interdisciplinary research topic. The recruitment efforts will emphasize involving female and minority students. The research will be incorporated into instructional materials. The project outcomes will be disseminated via a variety of outreach activities on the Case Western Reserve University campus and in collaboration with local communities. The goal of this research is to understand the multiscale interactions between fungi and soils, and therefore, offer insight on how fungi-soil interactions can be tailored to improve soil erosion resistance. The research objectives of this research include: 1) the study of topological interactions between fungi and soil, fungi adaptation to soil microstructure and response to bio-stimuli to design tactics to tailor the growth of fungi fibers in soil; 2) the understanding of the physico-chemical interactions between fungi and soil particles to guide the development of models describing the effects of fungi fiber on soil engineering behaviors; 3) the assessment of the effects of fungi on soil macroscopic performance properties, such as the soil aggregation, fiber reinforcement, soil water characteristics, and transport properties and how these improve the soil erosion resistance. The research will generate foundational knowledge on fungi-soil interactions and quantify their impacts on the soil engineering properties. It will break new ground in biomediated geotechnical engineering for sustainable soil improvement.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.