ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Research
There is a vigorous research program in Environmental Engineering (EnvE) here at Penn State. Total funding for research projects totaled $21,069,865 in 2011-12. The project titles, principle investigators, and other information on these research grants are listed below.
PROJECT LISTING
Energy sustainability for water infrastructure and agriculture (PI:Logan; with J.M. Regan). King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudia Arabia. May 1, 2008 - April 30, 2013. $10,000,000.
Energy sustainable wastewater treatment systems for forward operating bases based on microbial fuel cells. (PI: Logan). Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). July 18, 2012 – July 18, 2015. $1,010,617
Capturing Electrical current via mechanisms used for interspecies electron transfer to produce methane (PIs: Spormann, Logan). Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP), Stanford University. September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2014. $2,001,436 total (25% to Logan, $487,847)
Bioelectrochemical integration of waste heat recovery, waste-to-energy conversion, and waste-to-chemical conversion with industrial gas and chemical manufacturing processes (Subcontract, Logan). Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (via Department of Energy). September 1, 2012 – August 31, 2015. $326,691 to Penn State.
Evaluation of refinery and other oily wastewaters for power production in microbial fuel cells. Chevron. May 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012. $90,000.
Support for the North American International Society for Microbial Electrochemical Technologies meetings. US Army Research Office. (PIs: L. Angenent and B.E. Logan). September 15, 2012 – September 14, 2014. $30,525
Microbial electrolysis cell for hydrogen gas production. (PI: Logan). National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO. March 1, 2012 – February 28, 2013. $60,000.
BioEnergy Production. (PI: Logan). Frank Annuzio Award in Alternative Energy Sources. $25,000.
A novel pilot-scale application for bio-hydrogen fermentation of starch wastewater industry and synthesize of new materials for chemical storage of hydrogen. USDA-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Program. August 1, 2011 to September 30, 2013. $119,498.
Motility as a means to understand prokaryotic function in the biosphere. PI: J.G. Mitchell; with A. Ball, R. Lal, B.E. Logan, R. Stocker. Australian Research Council, 2010-2013. (No direct funding to Penn State)
Interspecies electron transfer in biotechnology, ARC Discovery grant to the University of Queensland, Australia. (PIs: D.J. Batstone; K. Rabaey. International collaborators: B.E. Logan, C. Picioreanu, A.J. Stams). 2009-2013. (No funding to Penn State).
AIR: PTTP: Topic 1: Materials translation for bindered anthracite briques in foundry cupolas. (PI: Cannon; Co-PI: Brennan), National Science Foundation, August 2011 – July 2013. $300,000.
Enzymatic biocatalysis of endocrine disrupting chemicals in wastewater: A sustainable technology for emerging contaminants. (PI: Brennan; Co-PI: Dorman), National Science Foundation, September 2012 – August 2015. $299,999.
CarbonEARTH (Carbon Educators and Researchers Together for Humanity). (PI: Brennan). National Science Foundation. January 2010 – January 2013. $2,850,000.
CAREER: Solving a global water crisis in a local watershed: A comprehensive analysis of chitin as a multifunctional substrate for the treatment of acid mine drainage, (PI: Brennan). National Science Foundation. February 2007 – January 2014. $421,500.
“Low-pH Fe(II) oxidation for passive treatment of coal mine drainage.” US Office of Surface Mining, Applied Science Program, $272,775. PI:Burgos. January 2011-December 2013 (no cost extension).
“Geochemical transformations caused by CO2 injection or leakage.” Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, $273,551. PI:Burgos January 2011-December 2013.”
“Reactivity of iron-bearing phyllosilicates with uranium and chromium through redox transition zones.” Department of Energy, Environmental Remediation Sciences Program, $911,051. PI:Burgos September 2010-August 2013.
“Reactor configurations for biological Fe(II)-oxidation.” Appalachian Research Initiative for Environmental Science (ARIES), $192,153. PI:Burgos. July 2011-June 2014.
NSF AIR, Materials translation for bindered anthracite briques in foundry cupolas (PI F. S. Cannon, Co-PIs R. Brennan, M. Klima) Aug 2011-June 2013. $316,000
USDA AFRI, A novel foundry fuel source utilizing biomass co-products as binders and fuel. (PI N. Brown, Co-PI F. S. Cannon, S. Komarneni, R. Voigt). Jan 1, 2011-Dec 31, 2016. $950,000.
NSF-CMMI-MPM-GOALI: Novel Low-Polluting Collagen-Alkali Silicate Bindered Cores for Foundries (PI: F. Cannon, Co-PIs Brown, Voigt) National Science Foundation Aug 15, 2009-Aug 14, 2012. $337,673.
Ben Franklin-Consol Energy. Marcellus hydrofracture water for sonsol energy phase 2: Removing Sulfate from Acid Mine Drainage. PI F.S. Cannon 6/12-6/13. $100,000.
Ben Franklin-Ward. Foundry energy savings by replacing coke. PI F.S. Cannon 1/12-12/12. $25,000
Ben Franklin-HMAC. Less energy, more Jobs: HMAC-L foundry ;ow-VOC cores. PI F.S. Cannon 3/12-6/13. $73,500.
Illinois Clean Coal Institute. Enhanced fine coal cleaning with a novel hydroacoustic cavitation system. PI M.S. Klima, Co-PI F.S. Cannon. 1/2012-12/2013. $149,999
Siemens Water Technologies. Characterizing activated carbons. PI F.S. Cannon 10/2010-5/2013. $110,000.
Whole-cell modeling and integrated experimentation of bioelectrochemical systems (PI: J.M. Regan, with M.M. Mench). Army Research Office. Sept 2011-August 2014. $313,214.
Great Lakes Fuel Cell Education Center (Co-PI: J.M. Regan). National Science Foundation. Sept 2011-August 2013. $32,530.
Evaluation of biofilm effects on corrosion of copper drinking water distribution systems through mathematical modeling, molecular biology, surface characterization, electrochemistry, and hydrodynamic experiments (Co-PI: J.M. Regan). FONDECYT, Chile. March 2012-February 2015. $25,000.
Correlation of Biological Constraints and Electricity Production Using a Micro Microbial Fuel Cell (PI: Regan). PSU’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Seed Grant. January 2008 – June 2013. $50,000.
