Carbon dioxide is produced from the combustion of fossil fuels and as a by-product of many chemical processes. The increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has now been decisively linked to global climate change. The use CO2 as a carbon-building block has attracted much attention due to its low cost, ease availability, and its potential to substitute fossil fuel-based feedstocks, in addition to the clear positive environmental effect of removing it from the atmosphere.
Silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) are semiconductor nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 1 to 10 nm that show great promise for photonics, microelectronics, and fluorescent bio-imaging considering their ability to fluoresce from blue to near infrared light. In comparison to conventional quantum dots (which can release toxic metals), Si quantum dots are expected to be safer and more stable for use in biomedical engineering applications.
This 24-months project aims at evaluating SiQDs for their toxicity both in vitro and in vivo.
With increasing international competition and environmental pressures, Canadian oil sands producers must develop new technologies to more competitively deliver their product to market that have lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Flow Control Devices (FCDs) are one such technology. These devices are placed in the injection and production wells and enable more efficient access to the reservoir. The result is improved economics and thermal efficiency which directly is tied to GHG emissions.
This project explores the use of new anaerobic digestion technologies such as the vacuum-assisted anaerobic digestion as well as innovative pretreatment technologies including the high-shear thermo-alkaline Lystek process and other mechanical, thermal, and chemical pretreatments to enhance the solubilization of the lignocellulose in cattle manure. Enhanced solubilization will result in higher biomethane yields and faster kinetics, resulting in smaller and more efficient farm digesters.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with global warming potential estimated at between 28 and 36 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years. In the upstream natural gas supply chain, there are many components all of which suffer from methane and other GHG emissions including drilling and completion operations, production and processing operations, and storage and local transport operations.
Canada, like other countries, has been facing different challenges related to the spread of COVID-19. Since the starting of the pandemic, we all learnt that fomites (contaminated surfaces) can be one of the main sources of virus transmition. In this project we are proposing an innovative multifunctional coating with antiviral and antimicrobial activity to prevent the spreading through surface contamination. This will be done by developing a superhydrophobic coating with antiviral and anti-bacterial/anti-viral properties by releasing low concentrations of metallic ions.
The project will significantly advance and integrate three sophisticated contaminated site characterization tools: stable isotope analysis, microbial community profiles, and 3D reactive transport modeling. These three tools will be applied to a series of poorly studied semi volatile compounds, including (di)chloronitrobenzenes and (di)chloroanilines, and incorporated in a conceptual site model along with concentration profiles and hydrogeological data to identify cost-effective remediation strategies.
ConocoPhillips Canada (CPC) is evaluating transformational technologies to reduce GHGs by up to 90% allowing for efficient Alberta resource development on a per barrel and supply cost basis in a carbon-constrained, globally competitive market. Warm applied solvent process refers to pre-heated solvents that are injected/co-injected with steam as an elimination/evolution of the current Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) process for bitumen mobilization which provides potential for absolute emission reductions.
The Operational Excellence (OpEx) team at Spartan Controls is actively involved in several initiatives for developing advanced process control (APC) solutions to the oil sands industry. The OpEx team collaborates with Professor Biao Huang’s research group through the NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in the Control of Oil Sands Processes program for solutions that require extensive research and development. This proposed project will complement the on-going joint research efforts with the development of new data analysis techniques to address the APC problems.
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a practical solution for reducing the overall green house gas (GHG) emission and environmental footprint of the civilization. The CoFlow simulation software developed by CMG is one of the only tools available for predicting the performance of the CCS applications. Generally, there are technical challenges and prediction deficiencies associated with processes involving injection of high-pressure CO2.
