By 2050, the Earth’s population is expected to exceed 9 billion, global water demand is projected to increase by 55% and agriculture, the largest user of water in the planet accounting for 70% of total water consumption, 1 will need to produce 60% more food globally. 2 On the other hand, global energy demand is expected to grow by 33% by 20403 all compared to 2014. Hence, to support the inevitable increase in food, energy, and water demands, it will be imperative to develop innovative breakthroughs for water remediation, improve soil conditioning for increased food production, and to utilize renewable energy resources for a future sustainable low carbon economy. The Center for a Sustainable Water Energy Food Nexus (SusWEF) will establish a partnership between the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM) and the University of South Carolina (USC) that will use an integrated approach of synergistic research to study aspects related to the Nexus. SusWEF has ambitious goals that should help in the development of sustainable Food, Energy, and Water systems. To achieve those goals we assembled a competitive interjurisdictional collaboration with unique expertise that complements and supplements that present at the other jurisdiction.
The UPRM team has strong experimental expertise in materials design, synthesis, characterization, and evaluation in the areas of catalysis and water treatment coupled with competent knowledge in soil science, ecology and hydrology. On the other hand, the USC team brings unique expertise in the areas related to computational chemistry, data science, and high throughput experimental analysis. Together, our research approach complies with the White House “Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness” (MGI) to develop advanced materials faster.4 Therefore, it has the potential to transform the field by fundamentally altering the way materials are discovered, developed, and optimized. SusWEF will study: 1) the use of agricultural waste biomass for the sustainable production of lignin and simple carbohydrates, 2) the use of an integrated set of advanced computational and experimental tools to discover improved catalytic and porous adsorbent materials, 3) the development of selective and efficient catalytic materials and processes for carbohydrates conversion to value added chemicals including biodegradable polymer building blocks, 4) the development of advanced separation technologies for water treatment, 5) the use of soil conditioners for improving crop production and water retention. SusWEF research will broadly advance our understanding of first principles design, synthesis, characterization, and implementation of 1) catalytic materials for the upgrading of carbohydrates with minimal separation steps and low water consumption, and 2) nanoporous adsorbent composite materials and nanofiltration membranes for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from water used during agricultural operations. Our team will also improve knowledge of lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction using polar aprotic solvents as well as soil conditioning by recycling lignin as soil amendment. Our approach should help for the efficient use of natural resources and, thus, securing food, water, and energy. To address these complex challenges, we have assembled two research thrusts and a workforce development thrust (WDT) comprised of faculty with shared interests and complementary skills from the partner institutions that are integrated to address the nexus needs to improve food, water, and energy security. One thrust will perform bottom-up design of nanostructured catalysts for the targeted transformation of biomass waste into value added chemicals, decreasing fossil fuel consumption, and helping curb CO2 emissions and climate change as well as the study of soil amendment using lignin. A second thrust will focus on the development of advanced composites and membranes to remove CECs from water, particularly those that arise from agricultural irrigation water. These include pharmaceutical and personal care products, antibiotics and endocrine disrupting compounds, as well as their human produced metabolites. A testbed will be developed to assess the effectiveness of the water remediation strategies and the use of lignin for soil amendment. The WDT will integrate research, education, and outreach activities that will target K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. SusWEF will facilitate the creation of a diverse workforce by broadening participation of Hispanics and women in STEM fields with emphasis in sustainability and the WEF nexus through leverage of the unique educational expertise and cultural environments of the partner institutions. Furthermore, a major goal of SusWEF is to launch and nurture the academic careers of several, promising early career faculty. Our research teams include several newly or recently appointed assistant professors who will be paired up with more established faculty from both UPR and USC.
