Photo illustration by Joy Smoker; Photo from iStock
21 August 2024
The world is waking up to the idea of a circular economy, where products and materials are continuously transformed, reused and recycled rather than being thrown away or otherwise released into the environment. This now even applies to carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that is a major cause of extreme weather and climate change.
A powerful new collaboration between academic institutions and companies, including researchers at the University of Delaware, is launching a bold initiative to transform manufacturing toward zero or negative emissions by using some of the smallest living things on the planet – microorganisms – to ultimately convert carbon dioxide into environmentally friendly chemicals and products.
The Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB) Engineering Research Center, led by Washington University in St. Louis, is funded by a five-year, $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The center will support convergent projects in research, education, commercialization, workforce development, and diversity and inclusion, and UD researchers will play a significant role in the effort.
“CURB will develop highly efficient chemical-biological hybrid systems to convert renewable energy and carbon dioxide into chemicals, fuels and materials,” said Joshua Yuan, CURB director and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at WashU. “This will decarbonize U.S. manufacturing and replace a significant amount of petrochemical products. CURB will advance a new circular carbon economy to meet the needs of human society while reducing carbon emissions. That’s what this center is all about.”
At the University of Delaware’s College of Engineering, where the chemical engineering graduate program is currently ranked seventh nationally, professors Wilfred Chen, E. Terry Papoutsakis, Kevin Solomon, and Yushan Yan and their teams will advance CURB’s research and workforce development goals. $4.3 million of the grant will go to UD.
“Our UD team has a track record of sustainability, and this new center will further advance our efforts toward a carbon-neutral economy,” said Wilfred Chen, Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering and interim associate dean for research and entrepreneurship in the School of Engineering. “We will develop new electrocatalysis and bioprocesses as part of the center’s broader goal of helping U.S. manufacturing reduce emissions and lower its environmental footprint by shifting from petroleum-based processes to biomanufacturing.”
