Using rate setting to control municipal water consumption

Canada’s municipal water suppliers are facing challenges from population growth, ageing infrastructure, and climate change. We can no longer rely on finding new water sources or increasing our abstraction rates; we must implement demand management approaches that reduce our need for water. This project will focus on the use of price reforms in Canadian municipal […]

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Development of a process for furfural production in an Integrated Forest Biorefinery

An integrated biorefinery for furfural production is an opportunity for Kraft pulp mills to create value from hemicellulose, a class of wood component that is currently burnt for energy. Furfural is one of the top bio-products with the potential to replace many industrial organic compounds that are currently produced from crude oil revenue. The objective […]

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Detoxification of hemicellulosic hydrolysate for butanol production

High demands for fossil fuels and increasing concerns over global warming have renewed the interests in bio-butanol production from biomass resources as an alternative liquid fuel. Hemicellulose, as an inexpensive and abundant raw material, has great potential for being suitable fermentation substrate. A problem associated with the fermentation of hemicellulosic sugars into butanol is the […]

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Development of a lignin biorefinery integrated into a Kraft pulp mill

Integrated lignin biorefineries present opportunities to increase the profitability of Kraft pulp mills through the diversification of product portfolio and improved sustainability. The purpose of this work is to develop optimized lignin biorefinery designs, which would be integrated into a Kraft pulp mill. A methodology combining process simulation, analysis and synthesis is proposed to achieve […]

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Plastics Packaging Materials with Antifungal/microbial Properties

Plastic packaging materials are needed in many food products to prevent spoilage and to extend shelf-life. This project focuses on developing plastic packaging materials that will not permit bacteria and fungi to grow on the surface of the plastic in contact with the food , bread in this particular case. Besides the obvious performance requirement […]

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Hog Urine Treatment by Membrane Distillation

The objective of this project is to test the feasibility of the membranes for membrane distillation (MD), developed recently by University of Ottawa researchers, to treat hog urine for the production of clean water in lab scale as well as with a demo unit. The MD process is eventually integrated as a part of the […]

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Electrodialysis treatment of Kraft black liquo rusing Bipolar membrane

The production capacity of the Kraft process is one of the important measures in the pulp and paper industry. A promising method for increasing the production capacity of the Kraft process is to lower the load of the recovery boiler by means of extracting lignin from the black liquor (BL). One of the sustainable methods […]

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Experimental investigation of patterning a nanostructured bioadsorbable stent by femtosecond laser ablation

The proposed project complements the current work of the partner organization with polymeric materials. The evaluation of ultrashort laser interaction with solid matter of surface textured metal-like materials would help the partner organization obtain detailed process knowledge; a distinct advantage for broadening its service offering to address a different market segment.

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Technology Acceleration of Selected Water Treatment Processes

Teck Resources Limited is exploring ways to improve water treatment efficiency as part of its commitment to responsible environmental practices. While various technologies are currently in the piloting stage, there is a need to continue exploring potential treatment options for future implementation. The objective of this project is to generate technical and engineering information that […]

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Modeling logistics for supply of bioenergy feedstock

The current version of the Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis (IBSAL) model is deterministic. As such, the uncertainty surrounding the results obtained cannot be studied or quantified. The focus of this research project is to incorporate uncertainty into the model in order to make it more realistic, provide additional insights into its properties and potentially suggest […]

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