Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Lignin Engineering, Analysis, and Research for Sustainable Technology (CLEAReST)

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.

The objective of this planning grant is to move towards a NSF-sponsored Center for Lignin Engineering, Analysis, and Research for Sustainable Technology (CLEAReST), which will serve as a focal point for the scientific advancements required to develop lignin-first processes for biomass conversion. Formation of CLEAReST is inspired by the global need to find renewable replacements for aromatic petrochemicals to sustainably address energy, climate, and food security needs.

These aromatic compounds are found in everyday products including fuels, plastics, personal care products, and pharmaceuticals. Lignin, a biopolymer found in all plants, is the only renewable source of aromatic chemicals, but is difficult to effectively utilize because of its complex, heterogeneous structure. Worldwide, there is growing recognition that utilizing lignin is an essential technological part of reducing the environmental and climate impact of human industrial activity.

By making scientific advances in its core scientific and engineering missions, CLEAReST will lower technological barriers to realizing this goal. This will be accelerated by cooperating with global lignin science partners and industrial leaders to address the most relevant problems in lignin processing.

Breakthroughs in science and engineering of lignin will be cultivated by pursuing five parallel, intertwined missions. First, the fundamental rules of life governing lignin biosynthesis will be uncovered and engineered to create plant feedstocks able to be deconstructed into valuable building blocks without loss of food value. Second, dedicated analytical tools will be assembled to provide comprehensive characterization of lignin all the way from plant cell to final product.

Third, the science of lignin deconstruction will be advanced to provide efficient ways to convert a given lignin source to the most suitable set of intermediate chemicals. Fourth, discovery-based applications of lignin-derived products will be advanced by developing structure-property relationships for well-defined lignin molecules. Finally, the systems thinking and convergence research-driven advances in lignin science of CLEAReST will be used as a platform for recruiting a diverse cohort of students and providing education, outreach, and knowledge transfer to an interdisciplinary scientific workforce.

The Center integrates the first four missions to seek scientific breakthroughs that advance integrated lignin science from its initial biosynthesis in plants to structure-property relationships in upgraded products. This planning grant will define high-impact engineering science targets within the missions of CLEAReST by bringing together potential collaborators and stakeholders for a series of workshops.

To move towards the goal of broadening the impact and participation of scientists from all backgrounds in the lignin utilization challenge, the planning grant includes activities to strengthen ties with social science researchers to better understand the economic, educational, and social implications of expanding the biorefining concept in rural communities, thus moving towards decentralized processing of lignin as a renewable source of aromatic chemicals, pharmaceutical precursors, and advanced materials.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.