Improvement of porous concrete for horticultural applications

这项研究拨款的重点是测试和优化多孔混凝土，作为湿度和温度控制(暖通空调控制)的环境控制系统，以及作为园艺生产的基质。多孔混凝土几乎可以形成任何形状，这使得这种建筑材料对许多应用非常有吸引力。我们实验室的一系列实验表明，与以前的多孔混凝土混合料相比，植物生长显著。我们希望这项研究能够改善温室和受控环境结构的环境控制，并将导致使用多孔混凝土进行建筑环境控制的其他新方法，以及改进的绿色墙方法，以允许植物在几乎任何结构上生长，特别是在绿化城市。我们的研究主要分为两个部分：1)多孔混凝土作为环境控制系统和生长介质的开发和测试应用；2)提高植物生长用多孔混凝土的质量和稳定性，并测试不同的方法。我们早期的研究表明，萝卜的生长速度有所改善。与我们的行业合作伙伴Innovertec和Cemex合作，初步测试的这些积极结果为该项目的扩展提供了支持和方向。Innovertec是一家为绿色屋顶、绿墙和园艺应用构建技术的初创公司，而Cemex是世界领先的混凝土和建筑公司。我们的第一步是在我们早先成功地在多孔混凝土上种植植物的基础上，开发这项技术，为植物生长提供一种可以在农业、园艺、建筑和围垦项目中应用的基质。开发利用多孔混凝土进行环境治理的技术，开发绿墙技术，提高植物生长用多孔混凝土的质量和稳定性，并在温室条件下进行多孔混凝土的田间试验。**********

This research grant is focused on the testing and optimizing of porous concrete as an environmental control system for humidity and temperature control (HVAC control) and as a substrate for horticultural production. Porous concrete has the ability to be formed into almost any shape, making this construction material very attractive for numerous applications.A set of experiments in our laboratory have shown remarkable plant growth in comparison to prior porous concrete mixtures. We expect this research to allow for improved environmental control for greenhouse and controlled environment structures and will lead to other novel approaches using porous concrete for building environmental control and improved green wall methods to allow plant growth on almost any structure, specifically for greening cities. We have broken down this research into two main parts: 1) on the development and testing applications of porous concrete as an environmental control system and growth media and 2) improving the quality and stability of the porous concrete for plant growth and testing different methods. Our earlier research has shown improvements in the growth rates of radish. These positive results from the preliminary testing, in collaboration with our industry partners Innovertec and Cemex are providing support and direction for the expansion of this project. Innovertec is a start-up company building technology for green roof, greenwall and horticultural applications, while CEMEX is a world leading concrete and construction company. Our first step is to build on our earlier success growing plants on the porous concrete and develop this technology to provide a substrate for plant growth which can have application in agriculture, horticulture, architecture and in reclamation projects. We will develop the technology to use porous concrete for environmental control, develop greenwall technology, improve the quality and stability of the porous concrete for plant growth and perform field testing of the porous concrete under greenhouse conditions. **********