17th International Water Association World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion: Biogas and Beyond: Expanding Applications of Anaerobic Biotechnologies in a Circular Economy

第十七届国际水协会厌氧消化世界会议（AD17）将汇集总计 500 名研究人员、水务人员和从业人员，分享来自世界各地的前沿研究和最佳实践。该会议将于 2022 年 6 月 17 日至 22 日在安娜堡密歇根大学举行。厌氧消化已成为一种多功能工艺/技术，可将许多废物流转化为有用的副产品，包括营养丰富的土壤改良剂和可升级为可再生天然气的富含能量的沼气。厌氧消化还具有巨大的潜力，可以通过将农业和食品废物转化为高价值化学品来促进化学工业的脱碳，这些高价值化学品可以作为工业相关产品制造的基础材料。本次会议将重点介绍厌氧生物技术领域的最新进展，重点关注有用产品的生产和资源回收，以促进气候适应能力和循环经济。会议还将包括关于创业的小组讨论和关于环境倡导的全体会议。会议期间的信息共享将通过口头和海报演示以及一些社交活动来促进。该 NSF 奖项将使会议组织者能够承担 200 名学生参与者参加 AD17 会议活动的费用。 AD17会议将为与会者提供许多交流思想和建立新伙伴关系的机会，以推动下一代厌氧生物技术的开发和实施，以促进气候适应和资源回收，从而造福社会。AD17会议将围绕11个讨论主题和会议组织，涵盖从厌氧生物技术的微生物生态学到厌氧消化在促进气候适应和循环经济中发挥的作用等主题。 AD17 会议的首要目标是创建一个关于这些不同主题的知识共享平台。会议将包括三个主题演讲和会议：“甲烷排放在全球变暖中的作用以及环境生物技术对脱碳的贡献”、“利用厌氧生物技术推进生物经济”和“通过微生物学研究启发厌氧生物技术”。会议还将举办由研究领导者和从业者组织的七个研讨会，包括主流厌氧处理、厌氧过程建模以及水、环境卫生和个人卫生 (WaSH) 的研讨会。开幕全体会议和主题演讲将广泛宣传并向公众开放。将通过将咨询工程师和行业专业人士的工作整合到该计划中并提供旨在弥合基础研究、知识转化和工业应用之间差距的参展商展位来促进咨询工程师和行业专业人士的参与。通过分享想法和最佳实践以及建立新的伙伴关系，本次会议将为厌氧生物技术的现实世界进步和实施做出贡献。 作为该 NSF 奖项的一项关键成果，首席研究员将利用 AD17 会议讨论来主导撰写一篇透视文章，以强调会议成果以及厌氧生物技术领域在生物经济中的重要作用。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。

The 17th International Water Association World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion (AD17) will bring together a total of 500 researchers, water utility personnel, and practitioners to share cutting-edge research and best practices from around the world. The conference will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor on June 17-22, 2022. Anaerobic digestion has emerged as a versatile process/technology for converting many waste streams to useful byproducts including nutrient-rich soil amendments and energy-rich biogas that can be upgraded to renewable natural gas. Anaerobic digestion has also great potential to contribute to the decarbonization of the chemical industry via the conversion of agricultural and food wastes to high-value chemicals which can serve as building blocks for the manufacturing of industrially relevant products. This conference will highlight recent advances in the field of anaerobic biotechnology with a focus on the production of useful products and resource recovery to advance climate resilience and a circular economy. The conference will also include a panel discussion on entrepreneurship and a plenary talk on environmental advocacy. Information sharing during the conference will be facilitated through oral and poster presentations as well as several networking events. This NSF award will enable the conference organizers to cover the costs of 200 student participants to attend the AD17 conference events. The AD17 conference will benefit society by providing many opportunities for the participants to exchange ideas and build new partnerships to advance the development and implementation of next-generation anaerobic biotechnologies for climate resilience and resource recovery.The AD17 conference will be organized around 11 discussion topics and sessions that span subjects ranging from the microbial ecology of anaerobic biotechnologies to the role that anaerobic digestion can play in advancing climate resilience and the circular economy. An overarching goal of the AD17 conference is to create a platform for knowledge sharing on these diverse topics. The conference will feature three keynote presentations and sessions: “Role of Methane Emissions in Global Warming and Contributions of Environmental Biotechnology to Decarbonization,” “Advancing the Bioeconomy with Anaerobic Biotechnologies,” and “Inspiring Anaerobic Biotechnologies through Microbiology Research”. The conference will also feature seven workshops organized by research leaders and practitioners including workshops on mainstream anaerobic treatment, modeling of anaerobic processes, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH). The opening plenary and keynote sessions will be broadly advertised and open to the public. Participation by consulting engineers and industry professionals will be promoted by integrating their work in the program and by providing exhibitor booths aimed at bridging the gap between fundamental research, knowledge translation, and industrial applications. Through the sharing of ideas and best practices and the creation of new partnerships, this conference will contribute to the real-world advancement and implementation of anaerobic biotechnologies. As a key deliverable for this NSF award, the Principal Investigators will leverage the AD17 session discussions to lead the crafting of a perspective article to highlight the conference outcomes and the important role of the anaerobic biotechnology field in the bioeconomy.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.