Performing Department
FIBER SCIENCE & APPAREL DESIGN
Non Technical Summary
According to the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Nearly every community in New York State is affected by brownfield sites. Brownfield site is defined as a real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. New York State continually contends with off-site movement of brownfield soils. After cleanup, these sites can again become the powerful engines for economic vitality, jobs and community pride that they once were. There is heightened awareness that erosion from small individual sites within a watershed significantly contributes to pollution and sedimentation. A multitude of methods for erosion control are currently being used. These include natural recruitment of vegetation, seeding of native and introduced species, transplanting vegetation, mulching, fertilizer application, soil scarification, synthetic soil-enhancing amendments, application of mats or mulches, and the use of natural and synthetic geotextiles. Mulch technology is currently the most popular method, but suffers from several significant shortcomings including susceptibility to mechanical damage and loss of functionality when applied to an incline. Some soil stabilization and remediation and erosion control methods rely heavily on non-renewable, non-degradable (synthetic) fibers/fabrics/mats (geotextiles). They are mostly derived from petroleum, are expensive and rarely benefit agricultural producers' bottom lines. The potential for plant-based fibers/resins is myriad, e.g. fibers/resins for soil and seedbed stabilization; carriers of fertilizers, seeds, bioremediation organisms or chemicals, to name a very few. Plant-based fibers and resins offer several other benefits such as being environmentally benign, sustainable, yearly renewable, biodegradable, can be processed easily and hence offer economically viable and truly `green' solution. Thus the soil stabilization fibers/resins offer broad potential as a remediation and erosion control technology. We have sought out a novel and 'green' method of in situ spraying or extruding of soy protein fiber mats which will expedite bioremediation by reducing erosion, improving seedling stand establishment, enhancing soil properties, and protecting emerging vegetation from pests. The fibrous mats also allow for the controlled release of active ingredients. The technique also has broad potential for tailoring resin composition to function. For instance, soy resins are essentially biodegradable protein fertilizers that would be capable of carrying constituents such as bioremediation bacteria, selective herbicides, adsorbents, etc., all of which could facilitate stand establishment and thereby reduce off-site movement of contaminated soils into public waters. This technique could be used in many applications including construction sites, turf industry, industrial and residential landscape management, sod production, plant canopy re-establishment, etc.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
70%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
Goals and Objectives 1) Develop soy-protein based extrudable resins that can be reinforced with cellulose fibrils. 2) Characterize the physical properties of extruded resins such as tensile strength, thermal degradation, moisture absorption, durability, shrinkage, etc. 3) Develop methods for large scale on-site extrusion so the resins can be applied on-site. 4) Test in laboratory and field, the ability of the extruded fibers to promote seed germination, seedling establishment, and soil stabilization. Output Year 1 will include resin formulation and property data compilation, preliminary trials of fiber spinning completed with hand-held extruder and small scale trials in greenhouses and microplots completed Year 2 will include further improvements in the resin formulations and characterization, completion of final design for the spinnerette and extrusion device completed and beginning of the simulated field trials. Year 3 will include building of the final spinnerette and extrusion device, optimization of the extrusion process and resin composition, and completion of simulated field trials.
Project Methods
Methods 1. Resins will be made preferably from soy flour, an inexpensive by-product from soybean crushing process. We will use modified vegetable oils as cross-linkers from plant-based and non-toxic sources. We will also use commercially available polycarboxylic acids (PCAs) that have been shown to improve the soy protein properties and add cellulose fibrils to further improve mechanical and physical properties of the resin. In addition, plant-based cellulose in various forms will be added to improve the mechanical performance and thermal stability of the resin. 2. Soy protein based resins can easily form films, but without any additives they are very brittle and weak. We plan to tailor the resin physical/mechanical characteristics as explained above before spinning them into fibers with suitable properties for on-site applications. The preliminary work has shown that fibers in the range of about 200 micrometer can be spun easily. All soy resin compositions will be characterized for tensile strength, modulus, thermal properties, and dynamic mechanical properties to allow optimization of the desired properties and create a database of resin composition. 3. We plan to develop small scale simulations using plastic needles as spinnerettes and inexpensive hydraulic presses. We have completed preliminary studies in extruding fibers and have developed a hand held prototype gun that can extrude 6 to 8 fibers simultaneously. The device has a laminar heater that can heat the resin up to 140C during extrusion. We plan to add a static mixer to blend all resin components during extrusion. The currently extruded fibers, as mentioned above, are in the range of about 200 micrometer in diameter. The current prototype version will be modified to have multiple spinnerettes with pressure control capable of spinning fibers of uniform diameters ranging from 100 to 200 micrometer. We will also design the spinnerette channel with desired length to allow high fibril orientation. 4. We will compare extruded soy-based resin performance against industry standards used to promote phytoremediation; viz. straw mulch, hydromulch, rolled-out mesh, non-woven fibers, and no-mulch controls. Initial greenhouse trials will determine how the resins promote seedling establishment. Another advantage of this system is that as it degrades, the soy protein can act as a natural fertilizer promoting growth of the seedling. After establishing these, we will move the technology out of doors in simulated field trials to determine if the treatments promote seedling establishment and plant growth and to characterize the durability of the soy protein fibers in natural environments such as rain, drizzle, rainstorm, etc. We will measure time to germination, seedling density, stand uniformity, plant density and biomass. Soil temperature, surface temperature and soil moisture will also be recorded in representative plots.