Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A
PPENDIX
C
ONTRIBUTIONS OF THE
NSF/EPA
T
ECHNOLOGY
FOR A
S
USTAINABLE
E
NVIRONMENT
P
ROGRAM
1995-2004
1. Introduction
Between the years of 1995 and 2004, the NSF and EPA jointly funded the Technology
for a Sustainable Environment (TSE) Program as part of the NSF/EPA Partnership for
Environmental Research. This program had the goal of supporting the investigation and
development of pollution avoidance and prevention processes, especially those with the
potential to have long-term impact on industrial applications. Specific areas of interest
included chemistry- and reaction-based engineering, non-reaction-based engineering, green
design, green manufacturing, and industrial ecology for the realization of sustainable products
and services. While the TSE Program was equally open to chemical, physical, mathematical,
and bioengineering technologies, the Program Review in May 2004 revealed that a significant
proportion of TSE grants have supported biologically-relevant endeavors. Of these, the
projects that directly addressed issues raised in this State of the Science Report are
summarized below.
2. TSE Contributions to Genetic and Metabolic Engineering
While the TSE program has appropriately refrained from funding projects intended
primarily to advance genetic and metabolic engineering technologies, TSE-funded projects
have nevertheless made excellent use of available technologies. They have also contributed
substantially to the refinement of basic techniques for application in the syntheses of
biomaterials and biofuels.
The following projects used metabolic engineering to develop biological pathways for the
synthesis of industrially- and agriculturally-useful products, some of which are related to
monomers that may be used in biomaterials. The use of biologically-generated and
biodegradable starting materials to yield similarly environmentally benign products is a
fundamental goal of bioengineering for pollution prevention.
