SusChEM: Sustainable Chemistry from Combined Inorganic and Organic Waste Precursors

农业和石油公司会产生大量的副产品，这些副产品的处理成本很高，而且可能对环境造成破坏。美国国家科学基金会的这一奖项支持开发新化学物质的研究，以结合美国这些关键工业的废物，并将这些废物转化为对消费品有用的聚合物/塑料。通过开发价格合理且可持续的可回收聚合物/塑料的新方法，该项目旨在通过以下方式显著造福社会：(1)减少使用不可持续塑料造成的环境破坏，(2)降低许多不同市场的消费品成本，以及(3)减少农业公司和炼油厂支付的废物处理量。K-12教师有机会学习可持续化学，并在K-12科学课上使用。为了提高科学、技术、工程和数学领域的参与度，该项目为技术类和主要是本科生提供了研究机会，并为代表性不足和经济状况不佳的学生提供了教育活动。农业和石油精炼过程产生的聚合有机和无机废物（POIWs）已被探索作为常规建筑材料的添加剂，但此类产品仅仅是物理混合材料，其本质上容易出现多种不可避免的环境恶化途径，包括破碎，浸出，腐蚀和生物降解。这项研究正在开发化学方法，在这些POIWs和传统大分子化合物的成分之间形成共价键，从而赋予它们更大的强度和环境耐久性。目前正通过将农业废物衍生的聚合材料（如木质纤维素材料）与石油提炼废物衍生的材料（如硫）共价交联来实现这一目标。

Agricultural and petroleum companies produce a tremendous amount of byproducts that is both costly to dispose of and potentially environmentally damaging. This NSF award supports research to develop new chemistry to combine waste from these key American industries and to turn these waste materials into polymers/plastics that are useful for consumer products. By developing novel approaches to recyclable polymers/plastics that are affordable and sustainable, this project aims to benefit society by significantly (1) reducing the environmental damage caused by using non-sustainable plastics, (2) reducing the cost of consumer products in many different markets, and (3) decreasing the amount of waste for which agricultural companies and petroleum refineries pay for disposal. K-12 teachers are offered opportunities to learn about sustainable chemistry to use in lessons in K-12 science classes. To increase participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, this project provides research opportunities to technical and predominantly undergraduate college students and educational activities to engage underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students.Polymeric organic and inorganic wastes (POIWs) generated by agricultural and petroleum refining processes have been explored as additives for conventional construction materials, but such products are merely physically blended materials, which are inherently prone to multiple, inescapable environmental deterioration pathways, including fragmentation, leaching, corrosion, and biological degradation. This research is developing chemistry to form covalent bonds between these POIWs and the components of traditional macromolecular compounds to confer upon them significantly greater strength and environmental durability. The objective is being pursued by covalently crosslinking agricultural waste-derived polymeric materials (such as lignocellulosic materials) with petroleum refining waste-derived materials (e.g., sulfur).