NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Using Recycled Glass Sand to Promote Resilience and the Blue Economy in Coastal Communities

提案#2137730国家科学基金会融合加速器轨道E：使用再生玻璃砂促进沿海社区的复原力和蓝色经济人们依赖沿海资源获得食物、水和能源。然而，上个世纪对这些自然资源的开采导致了污染和沿海土地的流失。在继续支持当地经济的同时，保护和恢复沿海环境从未像现在这样紧迫。该项目的愿景是在沿海社区建立回收项目，将垃圾填埋场的玻璃分流成玻璃砂产品，以恢复海岸和保护历史遗迹。在这种“网络蓝色经济”的方法中，新产品也被创造出来，为玻璃回收设施的运营创造收入。该项目与新奥尔良的玻璃回收初创公司Glass Half Full合作，汇集了来自化学工程、土木工程和环境工程、河流和海岸工程以及生态学和进化生物学领域的当地大学研究人员，以确定再生玻璃产品的新市场，确定应该在哪里使用再生玻璃砂来防止沿海土地流失，确保在沿海环境中使用再生玻璃砂是安全的，并让当地的美洲原住民社区参与保护目前受到土地流失威胁的重要文化遗址。这个项目还将为当地所有年龄段的学生创造服务、研究和培训的机会，让他们了解技术、经济、历史和沿海环境之间复杂、不断变化的联系。通过一种融合的研究方法，将在大新奥尔良地区建立一个基于玻璃回收的网络蓝色经济，该方法将多种科学和工程学科聚集在一起，能够涉及广泛的利益相关者，从潜在的行业合作伙伴(化学工程)到环保团体(生态)，到其家园受到沿海土地流失威胁的居民(接受社区参与培训的实践教授)，以及目前在该地区工作的政府和非营利组织的广泛网络(河流和沿海科学与工程)。该研究计划加速将实验室材料创新转化为实践，考虑到所有方面--工程、生态、社会和经济--以实现以下交付成果：(I)开发增值产品并确定这些产品的潜在市场，包括(A)再生玻璃砂中具有刺激性的天然粘土颗粒添加剂，仅在需要时才释放表面活性剂以隔离石油/化学污染物；(B)用天然聚合物添加剂处理的再生玻璃砂，以改善材料性能(例如，耐腐蚀性)；(Ii)获得相关州和联邦机构的批准，将再生玻璃砂用作路易斯安那州海岸的侵蚀控制产品；(Iii)传播植被生态测试和海洋动物悬浮沉积物暴露实验的结果，向保护团体和居民证明是安全的；(Iv)结合沿海建模和社区参与，确定示范项目地点；(V)通过以下方式扩大参与：(A)接触美国沿海原住民社区，以确定受沿海土地流失威胁的历史遗址；(B)通过杜兰生态学和进化生物学以及化学和生物分子工程系的选修课程和核心课程，让本科生参与服务学习和研究项目；(C)研究生和本科生参与跨学科研究项目会议；以及(D)为合作美洲原住民社区的学生以及杜兰大学的两年一度的外联计划--杜兰的女孩在STEM和在杜兰的男孩在STEM招收50%以上的参与学生来自代表不足的群体和新奥尔良地区资源不足的学校--开发一个关于土壤稳定性的K-12外展研讨会。

Proposal # 2137730 NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Using Recycled Glass Sand to Promote Resilience and the Blue Economy in Coastal CommunitiesPeople rely on coastal resources for food, water, and energy. However, extraction of these natural resources over the last century has led to pollution and coastal land loss. Protecting and restoring coastal environments, while continuing to support local economies, has never been more urgent. This project’s vision is to establish recycling programs in coastal communities that will divert glass from landfills and turn it into glass sand products to restore coasts and preserve historic sites. In this “networked blue economy” approach, new products are also created to generate revenue for operating the glass recycling facilities. In partnership with the New Orleans-based glass recycling startup company Glass Half Full, this project brings together local university researchers from the fields of chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, river and coastal engineering, and ecology and evolutionary biology to identify new markets for recycled glass products, determine where recycled glass sand should be used to prevent coastal land loss, ensure that recycled glass sand is safe to use in coastal environments, and engage local Native American communities in preserving important cultural sites that are currently threatened by land loss. This project will also create service, research, and training opportunities for local students of all ages to learn about the complex, ever-changing connections between technology, economics, history, and the coastal environment. A networked blue economy based on glass recycling will be established in the greater New Orleans area through a convergent research approach that brings together multiple science and engineering disciplines capable of engaging a broad range of stakeholder interests, from potential industry partners (chemical engineering) to conservationist groups (ecology) to residents whose homes are threatened by coastal land loss (professors of practice with training in community engagement) to the wide network of government and non-profit groups currently working in this area (river and coastal science and engineering). The research plan accelerates the translation of laboratory materials innovation into practice with consideration of all perspectives – engineering, ecological, societal, and economic – to accomplish the following deliverables: (i) develop value-added products and identify potential markets for these products, including (a) stimuli-responsive natural clay particle-based additives to recycled glass sand that release surfactants to sequester oil/chemical contaminants only when needed and (b) recycled glass sand treated with natural polymeric additives to improve material properties (e.g., erosion resistance); (ii) obtain approval from relevant State and Federal agencies for use of recycled glass sand as an Erosion Control Product on the Louisiana coast; (iii) disseminate results of vegetation ecological testing and suspended sediment exposure experiments with marine animals to demonstrate safety to conservation groups and residents; (iv) identify demonstration project sites by combining coastal modeling and community engagement; (v) broaden participation through (a) outreach to coastal Native American communities to identify historic sites threatened by coastal land loss; (b) engagement of undergraduate students in service-learning and research projects through elective and core courses in the Tulane Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Departments; (c) participation of graduate and undergraduate students in cross-disciplinary research project meetings; and (d) development of a K-12 outreach workshop on soil stabilization to be delivered to students in partnering Native American communities as well as Tulane’s biannual outreach programs, Girls in STEM at Tulane and Boys at Tulane in STEM, which recruit more than 50% of their participating students from underrepresented groups and under-resourced schools in the New Orleans area.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.