With $5M Award, NSF Selects UT to Lead Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts

The University of Tennessee (UT) has received a $5 million grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to start tackling one of the world's biggest scientific challenges.

UT's award is part of the 2024 Global Centers competition, a nearly $82 million international funding collaboration among agencies in the US, Canada, Finland, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the United Kingdom to establish research institutions known as Global Centers.

The newly established Global Centers will focus on advancing bioeconomy research to solve global challenges, whether by increasing crop resilience, converting plant matter or other biomass into fuel, or paving the way for biofoundries to scale up applications of biotechnology for societal benefit.

The program supports holistic, multidisciplinary projects that bring together international teams and the many scientific disciplines, including education and social sciences, necessary to achieve use-inspired outcomes. Each center will integrate public engagement and workforce development, paying close attention to community impacts.

While they will leverage the expertise of scientists and industry partners from all member countries, the six Global Centers are hosted at US-based institutions. In addition to the center at UT, the NSF has established two Global Centers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; one at the University of California-Berkeley; one at Michigan State University; and one at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit genomic research organization.

Tackling Global Challenges from Rocky Top

One of the pressing global challenges identified by the collaborating countries is to develop environmentally and economically sustainable bio-derived composites and plastics to replace petroleum and its derivatives. The Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts (GCSB), spearheaded by UT, will address this challenge.

"In a world suffering from resource limitations, challenges due to population and GDP growth, and environmental concerns, developing a circular economy has become a key priority," said Art Ragauskas, the interim Department Head of UT's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the UT-ORNL Governor's Chair for Biorefining, and the principal investigator of the GCSB.

"Petroleum-derived plastic products are not biodegradable and not always recyclable, leading to well-documented environmental and health problems," Ragauskas continued. "Similarly, agricultural wastes remain largely unutilized and are burned in some parts of the world, causing substantial atmospheric pollution. Our Center is targeted at developing advanced biorefining operations to create next-generation, environmentally friendly, and economically viable polyesters from these agricultural wastes."

Alongside Ragauskas, Hyeongmin Seo (University of Iowa), Gyu Leem and Chang Geun Yoo (State University of New York), and Clara Choi will serve as co-principal investigators. This Center will be jointly supported by the NSF, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and UK Research and Innovation.

The GCSB team includes researchers and industry partners from all six member nations of the Global Center initiative, creating a diverse team that will foster innovative approaches aimed at converting and utilizing waste biomass to create bioplastics.

Ragauskas says that the NSF made the correct decision in basing the GCSB at UT, largely due to the university's unique relationship with the agricultural sector.

"UT is at the crossroads of sustainable renewable materials, chemicals, and fuels," he said. "Environmentally friendly research is a common theme on campus, we have numerous partnerships with ORNL on green technologies, and—perhaps most importantly—UT students are interested in pursuing green technologies that address societal challenges to make a better world."

Part of a Worldwide Scientific Network

The Global Centers program leverages NSF's areas of strength to advance the bioeconomy executive order and the Bold Goals for US Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing. The Global Centers will also capitalize on other NSF investments in biofoundries that enable researchers to rapidly design, create, test, and streamline the development of tools and products to accelerate research to advance the bioeconomy.

The other five Global Centers will tackle problems like crop resilience in the face of climate change and integration of biomanufacturing into global supply chains.

"Global Centers are … international centers of research excellence (that) will generate crucial knowledge, empower communities, and strengthen the foundations of global cooperation," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "Together, we are forging new solutions to pressing socioeconomic challenges impacting all of us."

More information about this international partnership and the other five Global Centers can be found on the NSF Global Centers webpage.

Provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville