The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant is supporting Dr. Oliver Iorhemen in his research to extract valuable resources from wastewater.
Dr. Iorhemen is am Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor at UNBC.
He is studying ways to extract xanthan, curdlan, tyrosine and phenylalanine from wastewater.
“The outcome of this research will open a new vista of opportunities for economic success as many companies in Canada require these four resources as raw materials, including the food, biomedical, pharmaceutical, petroleum, petrochemical, construction, cosmetic, agricultural, and environmental remediation industries,” Iorhemen said.
His research will be focused on aerobic granular sludge (AGS), a technology used in both municipal and industrial wastewater sites.
“Part of this research program’s focus is to develop suitable extraction and purification methods for high-value products from biological wastewater treatment systems and organic waste,” Iorhemen said. “This concept is also in line with the biorefinery concept in wastewater management which seeks to mine resources from wastewater, offering the opportunity of obtaining high-value products from wastewater.”
The grant, worth $147,500 over five years, will fund a research team around Dr. Iorhemen made up of two PHD students, two Master of Applied Science students and five undergraduate students, and a post-doctoral fellow.
For more information on the University and the grant, click here.