SBIR Phase I: Using Metal-Organic Framework Materials to Increase Sustainability of Indoor Farming

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是能够用更少的水和能源可持续地生产更多的粮食。为了到2050年养活地球上的90亿人，我们需要发展新的农业系统。室内农业有可能改变我们种植和获取食物的方式，使当地来源的作物能够获得更高的产量。如果温室的能源和水消耗能够减少，粮食作物可以在所有主要城市中心附近全年可持续地种植。这项研究将为室内农业应用创造一套水管理产品和服务，从而使室内农业在环境上可持续和在经济上可行。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将把一种新型金属有机骨架(MOF)材料商业化，该材料能够为温室提供新型紧凑、节能的冷却和除湿系统。麻省理工学院最近的发现揭示了一种具有前所未有的吸水能力的新型MOF材料。此外，MOF材料可以很容易地从低成本的大宗商品化学品中合成。用这种材料运行的除湿器可以收集余热，为受控环境农业提供最佳的温湿度条件。为了将MOF材料从研究实验室转化为大规模生产，这种材料必须在循环条件下表现出足够的耐用性，设计成能够提供低成本加工，并集成到利用其独特性能的经济高效的气候控制系统中。拟议研发的目标是加速耐久性测试，设计过程化学以实现低成本制造，并开发系统级模型来分析室内农业应用的生命周期性能和成本敏感性。该奖项反映了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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the ability to sustainably produce more food with fewer water and energy resources. To feed nine billion people on this planet by 2050 we need to develop new systems of agriculture. Indoor agriculture has the potential to transform the way we grow and source our food, enabling locally-sourced crops at higher yields. Food crops can be grown sustainably year-round near all major urban centers if the energy and water consumption of greenhouses could be reduced. This research will lead to the creation of a suite of water management products and services for indoor farming applications thereby making indoor agriculture environmentally sustainable and economically viable.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will commercialize a novel metal organic framework (MOF) material that enables a new class of compact, energy-efficient cooling and dehumidification systems for greenhouses. Recent discoveries at MIT have revealed a novel MOF material with unprecedented water adsorption capacity. Moreover, the MOF material may be readily synthesized from low-cost, bulk commodity chemicals. A dehumidifier operating with this material can harvest waste heat to provide optimal temperature and humidity conditions for controlled environment agriculture. To translate the MOF material from research lab into large scale production, the material must demonstrate sufficient durability under cycling conditions, be designed to afford low cost processing and be integrated into a cost-efficient climate control system that takes advantage of its unique properties. The goal of the proposed R&D is to accelerate durability testing, design a process chemistry to enable low-cost manufacturing and develop system-level models toanalyze lifecycle performance and cost sensitivity in an indoor farming application.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.