Sustainable Energy Solutions via Systems-Based Research: Modernizing the Sustainable Energy Research Infrastructure in Durland Hall

Kansas State University, Manhattan KS

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This award supports the renovation and reconfiguration of approximately 5,237 square feet of research laboratories at Kansas State University's Durland Hall into collaborative research suites for bioenergy and energy efficiency research. The renovation will create research laboratory space that is designed around an open concept for research by multiple researchers and graduate students working on multiple projects. More specifically, the renovation will consist of demolishing or renovating: walls, doors and hardware, floor and ceiling finishes, ventilation duct work, exhaust and supply units, power distribution systems, lighting, plumbing, and fire protection. Overall, the proposed renovation will construct two flexible Chemical Engineering laboratories for chemical preparation, research, and computation. All new systems and space being constructed will be energy efficient and flexible for future expansion and research. Intellectual Merit: The development of sustainable and economically viable energy sources is one of the key technological challenges currently facing science and engineering. New technologies historically have been advanced through focused research on numerous components in academic and industrial "silos" and the subsequent integration of these discoveries into an efficient system. Because each component was independently developed, integration can take years and require significant refinement of the individual technologies. For example, significant resources may be focused in one facility member's lab to produce ethanol from cellulosic feedstock, but the very significant energy need of ethanol/water separation is not addressed. Another researcher may try to address the ethanol/water separation in another lab. The synergy of connecting these issues may naturally arise if two doctoral students worked side by side in the same space, not in laboratory "silos." Using the new laboratory suites, researchers will have the tools to develop solutions to one of the grand challenges facing engineers in the 21st century: Sustainable Energy Production. Research activities that will use the renovated facility include an NSF-supported IGERT award on Integrating the Social, Technological, and Agricultural Aspects of Sustainable and Renewable Biorefining, an NSF-supported REU site on Earth, Wind, and Fire that relates to alternative fuels, and the Kansas Center of Innovation in BioRefining and BioEnergy. Broader Impacts: These laboratories will allow for the refinement of a new research and research training model with a systems-based focus that thoroughly integrates students from various disciplines in collaborative research spaces. The institution plans on documenting its findings in this area, publishing them in journal articles, and presenting them at national conferences.