Innovation of technologies in food, energy, and environmental nexus

世界面临着养活70亿人的粮食安全挑战，必须在气候变化、环境退化、人口持续增长和燃料需求的背景下解决这一挑战。在全球范围内，估计有三分之一的收获粮食在到达消费者手中之前就丢失了。防止这种损失将有助于确保粮食安全，并减轻开发新土地用于粮食生产的需要。此外，农业部门产生了高达三分之一的温室气体排放，因此废物管理很重要。为了解决这些问题，拟议计划的目标是：(1)开发利用电子技术加工粮食作物和生产生物炭的方法；(2)开发不同园艺产品的高压贮藏技术和条件优化，以增加营养含量，保持品质和新鲜度；(3)优化利用农业废弃物作为生物炭生产、生物炼制和微生物燃料电池发电原料的方法。这些看似不同的研究方向都源于我对作物收获后干燥和储存技术的核心兴趣。我在食品干燥和热处理方面的研究重点是在不同系统中使用基于微波、射频和脉冲电场的电子技术。我们还研究了利用这些技术从生物质中提取有价值的化合物，对蛋制品和带壳蛋进行巴氏消毒，对谷物进行消毒，以及进行化学合成。该计划将继续研究使用高压电场干燥对温度敏感的食物和变性蛋白质，如面筋。这对解决麸质过敏有启示。我们还开始研究兆瓦辅助系统，从农业残留物中生产高质量的生物炭和碳氢化合物。我最初在仓储方面的研究是改良和控制大气系统。从那时起，我们已经确定了热处理控制储存害虫的最佳条件，并研究了使用环境胁迫（如紫外线照射）来刺激储存农产品中抗氧化剂的产生。在这方面的研究中，我们正在探索在储存前对农产品进行高压处理，以提高质量并延长无需冷藏的储存寿命。我们将把这项技术开发用于野外和工业用途。我们已经开始了一项新的研究，以提高微生物燃料电池（MFC）的性能，这将在电力不稳定的偏远地区发挥作用。我们已经研究了使用合成气作为碳源，我们还研究了mfc的物理特性，以便扩大规模。我们现在的注意力将集中在利用农业废弃物作为碳源上。拟议的计划建立在我们在将物理科学原理应用于生物系统方面的优势之上。在这项工作中，我们发现了一种多学科方法的强烈需求，这种方法将不同学科的分支结合起来，考虑到研究问题的生物学和工程学方面；这有助于我们开发创新的流程和技术，以实现可行的解决方案。我们将继续使用这种方法。拟议的计划有许多创新方面，例如使用高压电场干燥食品和变性面筋的过程；兆瓦辅助热解从农业废弃物中生产优质生物炭；高压压处理工艺，以提高食品质量，延长无需冷藏的储存时间，并扩大MFC的规模，从废物中提供电力。这将对许多行业产生影响。

The world is faced with challenges to food security to feed 7 billion that must be met within the context of climate change, environmental degradation, and continued population growth and demands for fuel. Globally, an estimated one third of harvested food is lost before it can reach the consumer. Preventing such losses will help to ensure food security and to relieve the need to exploit new land for food production. Also, the agricultural sector generates up to one third of greenhouse gas emissions, thus waste management is important. To address these issues, the objectives of the proposed program are to: (1) develop methods using electro-technologies for processing of food crops and for producing biochar; (2) develop high pressure storage technologies and optimization of conditions for different horticultural produce to increase nutrient content, and to maintain quality and freshness; and (3) optimize methods to use agriculture wastes as feedstock for biochar production, for biorefineries, and for microbial fuel cells to generate electric power. These seemingly disparate lines of research have risen from my core interest in post-harvest technologies for drying and storage of crops. My research in drying and thermal treatment of foods has focused on using electro-technologies based on microwaves (MWs), radio-frequency, and pulse-electric fields in different systems. We also studied the use of these technologies to extract valued compounds from biomass, to pasteurize egg products and in-shell eggs, to disinfest grains, and for chemical synthesis. The proposed program will continue this line of research into the use of high voltage electric-fields for drying of temperature-sensitive foods and for denaturing proteins such as gluten. This has implications for addressing gluten allergies. We also started work on MW-assisted systems to produce high quality biochar and hydrochar from agricultural residues. My initial studies in storage were on modified and controlled atmosphere systems. Since then, we have characterized optimal conditions for heat treatment to control pests in storage, and examined the use of environmental stresses such as UV irradiation to stimulate antioxidant production in stored produce. In this line of study, we are exploring hyperbaric treatment of produce prior to storage to improve quality and to extend storage life without refrigeration. We will develop this technology for field and industrial use. We have started a new line of research into improving the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFC), which will be useful in remote areas where electricity is unreliable. We have examined using syngas as a carbon source, and we have worked on characterizing physical aspects of MFCs for the purpose of scale-up. Our attention will now be focused on using agricultural waste as a source of carbon. The proposed program builds upon our strength in the application of physical sciences’ principles to biological systems. In this body of work, we discovered a strong need of a multi-disciplinary approach which integrates strands from different disciplines to take into account the biological and engineering aspects of research questions; this has helped us to develop innovative processes and technologies to achieve viable solutions. We will continue to use this approach. The proposed program has many innovative aspects such as a process using high voltage electric fields for drying foods and to denature gluten; MW-assisted pyrolysis to produce high quality biochar from agricultural wastes; hyperbaric treatment process to improve quality of food and extend storage without refrigeration, and scaled-up MFC to provide electricity from wastes. This will impact on many sectors.