Technologies for One Water in Extremely Resilient-buildings (TOWER)

第一部分这个项目建议在美国研究人员和来自五个国家的国际合作伙伴之间建立合作关系--菲律宾、阿联酋、哥斯达黎加、埃及和台湾。从干旱到洪水，水是讨论城市气候适应能力的核心。由于气候多变，现有的集中式城市供水系统不太可能满足日益严重的用水压力。建筑是已建成的城市环境的基本元素。拟议的塔楼项目设想了极具弹性的建筑--跨越各种气候和地理区域的建筑；这些建筑可以在正常居住期间自我维持供水和处理，并从灾难中迅速恢复。研究团队将：(1)获取建筑物水质的关键知识，特别是消毒副产品方面的知识，这是一组可能在节水型建筑中普遍存在的有害化合物；(2)开发创新和高效的高级氧化处理技术，以重复利用废水和雨水；(3)设计新型聚合物材料，以有效地捕获水蒸气；以及(4)为在极具弹性的建筑中实施这些新技术提供指导。该项目采用“一水”概念，承认水资源之间的相互联系。该项目中的教育活动利用了“持久性框架”，该框架集成了早期研究经验、学习社区和主动学习。事实证明，这种方法可以留住人数偏少的少数族裔学生，同时提高所有学生的学业成绩。除了为研究生和本科生提供培训机会外，该项目还将为初中生和高中生提供科学推广，并提高普通公众的科学素养。这些教育活动与建筑、化学、环境工程和化学工程之间的跨学科研究合作是平行的。本科生、研究生和外展教育机会都有助于建立一支具有气候意识的劳动力队伍。第2部分本项目预计将对实现净无水建筑物产生变革性影响。为了在不同气候的建筑物中安全地实现闭路饮用水再利用，必须开发创新和可靠的处理系统，以扩大水再利用的来源，包括废水和雨水，并彻底了解建筑物内处理后的水的质量及其健康风险。研究小组将利用最先进的高分辨率质谱学来调查消毒副产物的发生、形成和转化。他们将建立模型，以实现“智能”高级氧化过程，这些过程可以针对建筑规模的应用进行优化；这些模型将架起基础化学与系统性能之间的桥梁。为实现高效和可扩展的水蒸气收集而提出的努力侧重于最关键的系统组件：吸水剂。利用基于两性离子分子的平台，研究人员将在分子尺度上设计出新型的温度可切换聚合物。最后，在技术进步的基础上，利用国际合作，该小组将制定一个框架，根据建筑实践、入住率、用水概况、气候区域和社会文化参数来指导实施极具弹性的建筑。研究团队将分析与我们测试地点的水收集相关的管道和卫生法规文件，以确定在法规更新中提供指导的机会。通过国际合作，研究团队将在全球加速科学和技术进步方面处于独特的地位。这一奖项反映了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。

Part 1.This project proposes to build collaborations between US researchers and international partners from five countries - Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, Egypt, Taiwan. From drought to flooding, water is central to the discussion of urban climate resilience. Existing, centralized urban water systems are unlikely to meet the growing water stress due to climate variability. Buildings are essential elements of the built urban environment. The proposed TOWER project envisions extremely resilient-buildings across a wide range of climate and geographic zones; these buildings can self-sustain in water supply and disposal during normal occupancy and rapidly recover from disasters. The research team will: (1) acquire critical knowledge in water quality in buildings, especially on disinfection byproducts, a group of harmful compounds that may be prevalent in water-efficient buildings, (2) develop innovative and efficient advanced oxidation treatment technologies to reuse wastewater and stormwater; (3) design novel polymer materials to capture water vapor efficiently; and (4) develop guidance for implementation of these novel technologies in extremely resilient buildings. The project embraces the “One Water” concept that recognizes the interconnectivity of water resources. The educational activities in this PIRE project utilize the “persistence framework,” which integrates early research experience, learning communities, and active learning. This approach has been shown to increase retention of underrepresented minority students, while improving all students’ academic performance. In addition to offering training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students, the project will provide science outreach to middle and high school students, and increase the science literacy of the general public. The education activities parallel the interdisciplinary research collaboration among architecture, chemistry, environmental engineering, and chemical engineering. The undergraduate, graduate, and outreach education opportunities all contribute to building a climate-aware workforce. Part 2.This project is expected to have transformative impacts on enabling net zero water buildings. To safely achieve close-loop potable water reuse in buildings across different climates, innovative and reliable treatment systems must be developed to expand the sources for water reuse to include wastewater and stormwater, along with a thorough understanding of the quality and their health risks of the treated water within the building. The research team will utilize state-of-the-art high resolution mass spectrometry to investigate the occurrence, formation, and transformation of disinfection byproducts. They will build models to enable “smart” advanced oxidation processes that can be optimized for building-scale applications; the models will bridge fundamental radical chemistry with system performance. The proposed effort towards efficient and scalable water vapor harvesting focuses on the most critical system component: the water sorbent. Using a zwitterionic molecule-based platform, the researchers will engineer novel temperature-switchable polymers at the molecular scale. Lastly, building on the technology advancement and leveraging the international collaboration, the team will develop a framework to guide the implementation of extremely-resilient buildings based on building practices, occupancy, water usage profile, climate zone, and socio-cultural parameters. The research team will analyze plumbing and health regulatory documents related to water harvest across our testing sites to identify opportunities for guidance in regulatory updates. Through international collaboration, the research team will be uniquely positioned to accelerate scientific and technology advancement globally.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.