Session Topic Descriptions | AIChE

Session Topic Descriptions

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Brewing

Fermentation is a fundamental biological process that humans have harnessed for millennia. With advances in microbiology, its scope has grown to cultivate diverse microbes for the production of useful chemicals, from food to medicine, to materials; recent strides in genetic engineering have transformed the field, increase not only the productivity and chemical space of fermentation, but also the choice of raw material inputs, from solid wastes to air.

This topic area will focus on how to develop fermentation for the production of useful molecules to support a sustainable presence on Earth and in space.

Fueling

Chemical conversion and storage of energy is an unavoidable requirement of space travel.

This topic area will focus on how to develop chemical and material technologies for efficient and reliable processing of fuel and energy storage.

Nourishing

Food production is one of the most readily adaptable uses of biotechnology and chemical engineering in space. Biology is uniquely suited to producing the diverse collections of nutrients, flavors, and textures that fuel the human parts of every space mission. Chemical engineering advances will be essential in storing, processing, and delivering that fuel to the crew.

This topic area will focus on sustainable strategies of producing nutritious and palatable foods with the dual purpose of supporting food security on Earth and optimal crew health in space.

Building

Space presents us with a host of environments that explore new extremes under constrained resources. To survive in those environments, we will need to reimagine how and what we build, discovering, and developing new classes of materials.

This topic area will focus on developing new chemical, biological, and material science approaches building components and techniques, for feasible survival in space and sustainable survival on Earth.

Reclaiming

We commonly use microbes in wastewater and sewage treatment, where it is a source of fertilizer and energy. In space, developing robust reclamation methods is vital to supporting closed-loop life support systems.

This topic area will focus on chemical, biological, and material technologies that optimize resource utilization through reuse and reprocessing of existing “waste” streams.