Could AWE or anything else could help to use more SQL memory

Question

I read multiple articles and Q&A about the SQL AWE option but I am still confuse.

Here is our situation:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard 64 bits
• SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard 64 bits
• 48 GB RAM physically on the server
• 32 GB RAM usable by the OS
• 24 GB RAM max sql server memory

Based on the current activity on that server, we need about 8 GB outside of SQL in order to be fine, so we max it at 24 GB.

I beleive the OS see only 32 due to the "standard" edition of window 2008 R2, am I right?

The AWE option is not enable in SQL Server, but would it make a difference since the OS is not even able to use the full 48GB ?

Is there anything else we could do to maximize the RAM on that server?

Any tips would be appreciate, thank you !