Technologies for One Water in Extremely Resilient-buildings (TOWER)

第1部分。​从干旱到洪水，水是讨论城市气候适应能力的核心。由于气候变化，现有的集中式城市供水系统不太可能满足日益增长的用水压力。建筑是人造城市环境的基本要素。拟议的TOWER项目设想了在广泛的气候和地理区域内具有极具弹性的建筑；这些建筑可以在正常使用期间自给供水和处理水，并从灾害中迅速恢复。研究小组将：(1)获得有关建筑物水质的关键知识，特别是有关消毒副产物的知识，这是一组在节水建筑中可能普遍存在的有害化合物；(2)开发创新和高效的高级氧化处理技术，以再利用废水和雨水；(3)设计新型高分子材料，高效捕获水蒸气；(4)为在极具弹性的建筑中实施这些新技术制定指南。该项目采用“一水”概念，认识到水资源的相互关联性。这个PIRE项目中的教育活动利用了“持久性框架”，它集成了早期的研究经验、学习社区和主动学习。这种方法已被证明可以增加少数族裔学生的留校率，同时提高所有学生的学习成绩。除了为研究生和本科生提供培训机会外，该项目还将为初高中学生提供科学推广，并提高公众的科学素养。教育活动平行于建筑、化学、环境工程和化学工程之间的跨学科研究合作。本科、研究生和外展教育机会都有助于建立一支具有气候意识的劳动力队伍。第2部分。该项目有望对实现净零水建筑产生变革性影响。为了在不同气候条件下的建筑中安全地实现闭环饮用水回用，必须开发创新和可靠的处理系统，以扩大水回用的来源，包括废水和雨水，同时全面了解建筑内处理过的水的质量及其对健康的风险。研究小组将利用最先进的高分辨率质谱法来调查消毒副产物的发生、形成和转化。他们将建立模型，以实现“智能”高级氧化过程，这些过程可以针对建筑规模的应用进行优化；这些模型将在基本的自由基化学和系统性能之间架起桥梁。对高效和可扩展的水蒸气收集提出的努力集中在最关键的系统组件：吸附剂。利用两性离子分子为基础的平台，研究人员将在分子尺度上设计出新型的温度可切换聚合物。最后，在技术进步的基础上，利用国际合作，团队将根据建筑实践、占用、用水情况、气候区和社会文化参数，制定一个框架来指导极具弹性建筑的实施。研究小组将分析我们测试地点与水收集相关的管道和健康监管文件，以确定监管更新的指导机会。通过国际合作，研究团队将具有独特的优势，以加速全球科技进步。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Part 1.This project proposes to build collaborations between US researchers and international partners from five countries - Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, Egypt, Taiwan. From drought to flooding, water is central to the discussion of urban climate resilience. Existing, centralized urban water systems are unlikely to meet the growing water stress due to climate variability. Buildings are essential elements of the built urban environment. The proposed TOWER project envisions extremely resilient-buildings across a wide range of climate and geographic zones; these buildings can self-sustain in water supply and disposal during normal occupancy and rapidly recover from disasters. The research team will: (1) acquire critical knowledge in water quality in buildings, especially on disinfection byproducts, a group of harmful compounds that may be prevalent in water-efficient buildings, (2) develop innovative and efficient advanced oxidation treatment technologies to reuse wastewater and stormwater; (3) design novel polymer materials to capture water vapor efficiently; and (4) develop guidance for implementation of these novel technologies in extremely resilient buildings. The project embraces the “One Water” concept that recognizes the interconnectivity of water resources. The educational activities in this PIRE project utilize the “persistence framework,” which integrates early research experience, learning communities, and active learning. This approach has been shown to increase retention of underrepresented minority students, while improving all students’ academic performance. In addition to offering training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students, the project will provide science outreach to middle and high school students, and increase the science literacy of the general public. The education activities parallel the interdisciplinary research collaboration among architecture, chemistry, environmental engineering, and chemical engineering. The undergraduate, graduate, and outreach education opportunities all contribute to building a climate-aware workforce. Part 2.This project is expected to have transformative impacts on enabling net zero water buildings. To safely achieve close-loop potable water reuse in buildings across different climates, innovative and reliable treatment systems must be developed to expand the sources for water reuse to include wastewater and stormwater, along with a thorough understanding of the quality and their health risks of the treated water within the building. The research team will utilize state-of-the-art high resolution mass spectrometry to investigate the occurrence, formation, and transformation of disinfection byproducts. They will build models to enable “smart” advanced oxidation processes that can be optimized for building-scale applications; the models will bridge fundamental radical chemistry with system performance. The proposed effort towards efficient and scalable water vapor harvesting focuses on the most critical system component: the water sorbent. Using a zwitterionic molecule-based platform, the researchers will engineer novel temperature-switchable polymers at the molecular scale. Lastly, building on the technology advancement and leveraging the international collaboration, the team will develop a framework to guide the implementation of extremely-resilient buildings based on building practices, occupancy, water usage profile, climate zone, and socio-cultural parameters. The research team will analyze plumbing and health regulatory documents related to water harvest across our testing sites to identify opportunities for guidance in regulatory updates. Through international collaboration, the research team will be uniquely positioned to accelerate scientific and technology advancement globally.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.