Photo: Anoop Uchagawkar, PhD student at the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis at the KU, tests catalysts for the production of plastic precursors in a laboratory reactor. Source: Max Jiang, KU School of Engineering
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Source: Max Jiang, KU School of Engineering
Plastics have become an indispensable part of today’s society. These nimble polymers keep food fresh, cars safe, clogging arteries, and countless other uses. But the benefits come at a price. Every year, millions of tons of discarded plastic pollute ecosystems, harm animals and exacerbate climate change.
Now, a US $ 4 million award from the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR RII Track 2 program will bring researchers from Kansas and Delaware together to fund work to improve the way plastics are made and recycled.
“We are excited to advance technologies that will help society transition to a more sustainable plastics economy,” said senior researcher Bala Subramaniam, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas and director of the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis.
The research team will address two main issues related to plastics manufacturing.
First, they will develop sustainable ways to convert organic non-food resources – like grasses or plant debris – into plastic products, thereby promoting rural economic growth for farmers. Second, the team will find better ways to break down used plastic to make building blocks for new plastics.
“This award underscores the key role Kansas plays in advanced manufacturing and how the country continues to innovate in critical areas such as renewable plastics that will benefit the nation as a whole,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.
Panchanathan and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran are visiting the KU Lawrence campus today to meet researchers who use NSF funding to advance discovery and innovation.
To conduct chemical research, the team will leverage cutting-edge capabilities at KU’s CEBC, Pittsburg State University’s Kansas Polymer Research Center, and the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation.
But Subramaniam says solving the plastic pollution challenge will take more than just chemical innovation. Public policy is also essential. The KU’s Institute for Political and Social Research will help develop software to model the economics of the new technologies to shed light on policies that incentivize job creation and energy independence in the US
The four-year project aims to stimulate discovery, innovation and workforce development in Kansas and Delaware. The program will also mentor junior professors and establish a faculty diversity postdoctoral program to support women and underrepresented minorities on this career path. The team has strong partnerships with agricultural and chemical companies that will also help drive innovation towards commercialization and promote advanced manufacturing initiatives.
The KU award is one of nine awards announced today by the NSF that fund collaborative research teams in scientific focus areas in line with NSF and national priorities. Both Kansas and Delaware are target areas of the NSF EPSCoR, which stands for Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The 40-year-old program targets areas across the country – about half of all US states – to strengthen their capacities and skills in science, technology, and engineering.
Since 2006, KU has received 11 EPSCoR awards totaling more than $ 72.4 million.
Subramaniam is one of five professors who lead and supervise certain parts of the research. Others are Alan Allgeier, Associate Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Deputy Director of CEBC; Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Political and Social Research at the KU; Timothy Dawsey, executive director of the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University; and Raul Lobo, Claire D. LeClaire Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware.
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