RII Track-2 FEC - Advanced Manufacturing of Renewable and Recyclable Polymers

数以百万计的塑料垃圾污染环境，对生态和健康造成不利影响。迫切需要新技术来促进塑料回收，并使循环和可持续经济增长成为可能。这种转变需要技术创新和公共政策，使旧聚合物能够在新产品以及可再生原材料(如牧草和作物残渣)中重复使用。在这个项目中，来自堪萨斯大学(KU)、特拉华大学(UD)和匹兹堡州立大学(PSU)的研究人员将利用他们互补的专业知识来开发促进这一过渡的知识。该团队的目标是开发新的催化剂和工艺，以(A)将生物质原料转化为具有商业意义的塑料材料，以及(B)有效地将回收塑料分解为可重复使用的前体。模拟、数据科学、技术经济分析和生命周期评估将指导这项研究。同时，将制定和评估公共政策，以推动农村经济增长和新材料的市场渗透。这些活动将在堪萨斯州、特拉华州和其他地区催生以农业为基础的可再生材料制造业，为这两个EPSCoR司法管辖区提供重大的经济提振。该计划将指导初级教师，并建立一个博士后教师多样性计划，以支持妇女和代表不足的少数族裔在这一职业道路上。此外，我们将招募和培养一支多元化的劳动力队伍，配备所需的技能，使用先进的制造概念来推动我们的经济走向可持续发展。具体地说，该项目将为广泛的可再生聚酯和聚合物回收战略开发新的合成路线，标志着可持续材料先进制造的新的良性设计范例。该计划将重点关注三种可再生单体：4，4‘-联苯二元酸、5，5’-联苯二酸和癸二酸。之所以选择这些化合物，是因为它们可以从生物质衍生的糠醛中合成。由于在可预见的未来回收将涉及可再生塑料和化石塑料，该项目将评估和优化这些可再生单体与现有聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯(PET)塑料的共聚物。我们研究团队的共同研究专业知识将使催化和动力学基础与分离和过程强化策略相结合，以开发可扩展的制造和回收概念。新的催化材料，包括生物催化剂、强化喷雾和微波反应器，以及聚合物合成和回收的新基础知识将会出现。将制定一个分析从摇篮到摇篮的过程系统的框架，其中融合了可持续性原则、经济学和公共政策方面的考虑。我们将部署和推进最先进的数据科学方法和多尺度建模，以加快可再生和可回收生物基聚合物的发现和创新。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。

Millions of tons of plastic waste pollute the environment with adverse ecological and health impacts. New technologies are urgently needed to facilitate plastic recycling and enable the growth of a circular and sustainable economy. Such a transition requires technological innovation and public policies that enable the reuse of used polymers in new products, as well as renewable raw materials such as grasses and crop leftovers. In this project, researchers from the University of Kansas (KU), University of Delaware (UD), and Pittsburg State University (PSU) will use their complementary expertise to develop the knowledge to foster this transition. The team aims to develop novel catalysts and processes to (a) transform biomass feedstocks into commercially relevant plastic materials, and (b) deconstruct recycled plastics efficiently into precursors for reuse. Simulations, data science, techno-economic analyses and life cycle assessments will guide the research. Concurrently, public policies will be formulated and evaluated to drive rural economic growth and the market penetration of the new materials. Such activities will spawn an agro-based, renewable materials manufacturing industry in Kansas, Delaware and beyond, providing a major economic boost in these two EPSCoR jurisdictions. The program will mentor junior faculty and establish a Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity to support women and underrepresented minorities in this career path. Additionally, we will recruit and educate a diverse workforce equipped with the skills needed to use advanced manufacturing concepts to drive our economy towards sustainability.Specifically, the project will develop novel synthesis routes for a broad slate of renewable polyesters and polymer recycling strategies, signaling a new benign by design paradigm for the advanced manufacturing of sustainable materials. The program will focus on three renewable monomers: 4,4'-biphenyl-dicarboxylic acid, 5,5'-bifurandicarboxylic acid, and sebacic acid. These were selected because they can be synthesized from biomass-derived furfural. Since recycling will involve renewable and fossil-based plastics for the foreseeable future, the project will evaluate and optimize copolymers of these renewable monomers with the existing poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) plastic. The convergent research expertise of our team of investigators will enable integration of catalysis and kinetics fundamentals with separations and process intensification strategies to develop scalable manufacturing and recycling concepts. Novel catalytic materials including biocatalysts, intensified spray and microwave reactors, and new fundamental knowledge underlying the synthesis and recycling of polymers will emerge. A framework for analyzing cradle-to-cradle process systems blended with sustainability principles, economics and public policy considerations will be developed. We will deploy and advance state-of-the-art data science methods and multiscale modeling to expedite discovery and innovation of renewable and recyclable biobased polymers.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.