SusChEM: Novel biomimetic materials for water purification: perchlorate treatment

CBET-1336620 Julie Zilles&Amp；Charles Werth of Illinois University of Illinois Urbana Champain需要新技术来去除水中新出现的污染物，如药品、个人护理产品和干扰内分泌的化合物。虽然这些污染物具有广泛的来源、化学结构和影响，但它们的共同特性是即使在低浓度下也是有毒的，并被生物识别。该项目将利用生物酶的高度特异性、亲和力和活性来开发被称为生物催化剂的新材料，以降解饮用水污染物高氯酸盐。这些酶将以两种形式进行测试：游离在溶液中和包裹在中空脂球或囊泡中。囊泡中的包裹有望增加稳定性，但也会引入扩散限制。因此，第一个目标是测量这些材料的基本性质：扩散限制、反应速率和寿命。这些数据将确定哪些特性最有可能限制材料的用途，为后续研究提供重点，并为初步评估经济可行性和环境影响提供数据。其他项目目标将针对限制属性进行改进，使用采矿生物学和应用定向进化的两步过程。第一步，采矿生物学，将包括从不同的微生物中筛选现有的酶变体，以确定那些具有最合适的特性组合的酶变体。在第二步中，将使用定向进化来进一步改进现有的最好的酶。这种方法包括进行随机突变的迭代循环，并选择那些在所需特性中表现出改善的突变酶。在实现这些目标的同时，该项目将比较用于减少高氯酸盐的生物催化材料与现有和新出现的高氯酸盐处理方案的可持续性。这种可持续性分析将把经济和环境影响纳入生命周期分析，既使用初始属性，也使用在以后目标中获得的改进属性。正在进行的可持续性分析的结果将指导这些材料的开发，并将对生物催化材料用于水处理的潜力进行更全面的评估。该项目将通过开发有效和高效的高氯酸盐处理技术来促进安全饮用水。通过在早期阶段纳入对潜在经济和环境影响的评估，这项研究将侧重于可持续水处理工艺的开发。更广泛地说，在这里获得的对限制生物催化材料活性的因素的洞察将证明这种方法的潜力和局限性，它可以提供一种高度具体和敏感的手段来处理新出现的污染物和促进水的再利用。这项工作还将有助于在微生物学和工程学方面对本科生和研究生进行跨学科教育，并通过包括未被充分代表的少数民族学生在内的初中和高中推广，促进科学和工程学的多样性。

CBET-1336620Julie Zilles & Charles WerthUniversity of Illinois Urbana ChampaignNew technologies are needed to remove emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and endocrine-disrupting compounds from water. While these contaminants have a wide range of sources, chemical structures, and effects, they share the properties of being toxic even at low concentrations and of being biologically recognized. This project will harness the high specificity, affinity, and activity of biological enzymes to develop novel materials, referred to as biocatalysts, to degrade the drinking water contaminant perchlorate. The enzymes will be tested in two forms: free in solution and encapsulated in hollow lipid spheres or vesicles. Encapsulation in vesicles is expected to increase stability but also to introduce diffusion limitations. The first objective is therefore to measure fundamental properties of these materials: diffusion limitations, reaction rates, and longevity. These data will identify what properties are most likely to limit the utility of the material, providing a focus for subsequent research and data for an initial assessment of the economic feasibility and environmental impacts. Other project objectives will target the limiting properties for improvement using a two-step process of mining biology and applying directed evolution. The first step, mining biology, will consist of screening existing enzyme variants from different microorganisms to identify those with the most suitable combination of properties. In the second step, directed evolution will be used to further improve the best existing enzymes. This approach involves iterative cycles of making random mutations and selecting for those mutant enzymes that show improvements in the desired property. In parallel with these objectives, the project will compare the sustainability of biocatalytic materials for perchlorate reduction to existing and emerging perchlorate treatment options. This sustainability analyses will incorporate economic and environmental impacts in life cycle analysis using both the initial properties and the improved properties obtained in later objectives. The results of the ongoing sustainability analyses will guide the development of these materials and will provide a more general assessment of the potential of biocatalytic materials for water treatment.This project will contribute to safe drinking water through the development of perchlorate treatment technologies that are effective and efficient. By incorporating evaluation of the potential economic and environmental impacts at an early stage, this research will emphasize development of sustainable water treatment processes. More generally, the insight into factors limiting activity of biocatalytic materials gained here will demonstrate the potential and limitations of this approach, which could provide a highly specific and sensitive means of dealing with emerging contaminants and facilitating water reuse. This work will also contribute to the interdisciplinary education of undergraduate and graduate students in microbiology and engineering, and promote diversity in science and engineering through middle school and high school outreach including under-represented minority students.