Management and treatment of wood preserving wastes for environmental remediation and energy generation: Waste-Water-Energy Nexus.

In the modern period of the Industrial Revolution, enormous emphasis is placed on green technology, including zero or less waste production, recycling resources, and using recyclable raw materials. According to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for a peaceful and flourishing world, materials science research focuses on recovering techniques and proper waste control are essential to address the worldwide waste catastrophe. Converting low-value biomass waste, predominantly waste wood products, into high-value materials for environmental and energy applications could solve three major issues simultaneously: waste management, wastewater treatment and clean energy recovery. The proposed project will combine strategy, logistics, science, and technology to extensively study the importance of using available biomass waste, i.e., out-of-service utility poles and wood products, as raw materials to prepare materials to function as a dual-functional photocatalyst for the concurrent treatment of wood industry wastewater and hydrogen generation. The biomass-derived materials could be a good alternative as no costly precursor of carbons to deal with both the management and valorization of biomass with environmental impact.

Faculty Supervisor:

Quan Sophia He

Student:

Partner:

Stella-Jones Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Agriculture; Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Dalhousie University

Program: