NSF Award
2328351
The manufacturing of building and infrastructure materials currently heavily relies on cement and concrete. The large resource needs and limited re-use and recycling of cement and concrete are at odds with a resource-limited future. This Future EcoManufacturing research grant (FMRG: Eco) project envisions more sustainable, eco-manufacturing of building materials through leveraging the natural metabolic activities of microorganisms. The long-term goal of this project is to transform how, where, and when these materials can be produced as well as who can participate in their manufacturing. The specific goal is to improve the ability to make complex, load-bearing structures through microbial biomineralization. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the generation of fundamental knowledge about the control of microbes to build, assemble, repair, and reuse or recycle building materials. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of three graduate students and up to 15 undergraduate students at Montana State University (MSU).<br/><br/>Concrete, which includes cement along with fine and coarse aggregates, is ubiquitous in building materials. Concrete requires increasingly scarce materials such as high-quality sand while cement requires high energy, time, labor, and material resources to manufacture. Cement manufacturing also has a high carbon footprint. This research advances the eco-manufacturing of sustainable building materials using microbes by addressing several key challenges that limit how current biomineralized structures are built, repaired, and recycled. The specific research objectives are to 1) improve spatial control of biomineralization through strategies including functionalizing surfaces to bio-trap microbes and 3D printing; 2) engineer biological glues and/or layer-by-layer deposition of biomineralized scaffolds to assemble more complex biomineralized structures; 3) activate an embedded biomineralizing bacteria, fungi, or enzymes or external microbial or enzyme delivery to facilitate in-situ repair; and 4) explore repurposing or recycling biomineralized structures aided by material breakdown or re-mineralization by microorganisms. The successful completion of this research will improve future manufacturing through advancing technology needed for on-site production, re-use, and repair of complex material structures, particularly in resource-limited settings. To implement the education and workforce goals of the project, the team plans to develop an eco-manufacturing course and training modules as well as biomineralization activity outreach to K-12 students through existing MSU programs and teachers through an existing Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program. Additionally, a workforce development program, Eco-Manufacturing Student Research and Train (Eco-Start), will train up to 15 undergraduate students through academic and industry laboratory work experiences to prepare them for employment and leadership in eco-manufacturing.<br/><br/>This Future Manufacturing award was jointly funded by the Division of Translational Impacts (TI) in the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), the Divisions of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) and Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) in the Office of Integrated Activities (OIA) in the Office of the Director (OD).<br/><br/>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.
