Overview
We tackle technological challenges to sustainable fuel and energy production from solar, nuclear and biological sources, as well as process and safety challenges to extracting traditional petrochemicals. Our approach spans the design and creation of efficient catalysts used in energy production, to process engineering and technoeconomic assessment of new production and storage options. Some examples of our research activities include:
- Fabricating “chemical-plants-on-a-chip” to rapidly test heterogeneous catalyses that maximize energy recovery from biomass.
- Predicting the role and fate of inorganics in the industrial processing of woody biomass, emphasizing energy and atomic efficiency of the overall process.
- Developing lignocellulosic-based green energy storage devices and electronics wearables.
- Optimizing electrocatalysis processes for water splitting in membrane fuel cells.
- Developing high-performance battery technology through electrolyte and advanced electrode materials design.
- Advancing safe nuclear energy generation and waste management.
- Applying genomics and synthetic biology approaches to engineer microorganisms and microbial communities that recover energy from CO2 and organic waste.
- Designing new organic photovoltaic devices for harvesting solar energy.
Investigating surfactant-based processes and transport phenomena associated with oil and bitumen extraction and industrial remediation of oil spills. - Developing novel electrochemical processes for producing ultra high purity materials.
Key Terms
- Solar energy
- Photocatalysis
- Nuclear power
- Heterogeneous catalysis
- Hydrogen
- Corrosion and material performance
- Electrochemistry
- Energy recovery and storage
- Liquid biofuels
- Algae to fuels and chemicals
- Methanogenesis
- Flexible electrodes and wearables
- Membrane separation
- Oil extraction
- Life cycle assessment
- Technoeconomic assessment
Core Principal Investigators
![Acosta, Edgar Edgar Acosta](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Acosta-Edgar-circle-9cd73ae67f0b2ad717533b0c95327c42-619e710bd3c51.png)
Enhanced oil recovery; oil sands processing; metamaterial colloids for solar fuels and chemicals
![Allen, D. Grant Grant Allen](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Allen-D.-Grant-1024x972-circle-52578ed017b822b688242e05154d5960-619e710bd3c6b.jpg)
Algae to fuels and chemicals; liquid biofuels; methanogenesis
![Azimi, Gisele Gisele Azimi](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Azimi-Gisele-circle-77f4b3415ceca9c3782b5eb4f33378fe-619e710bd3c4d.jpg)
Electrochemical technologies; energy storage
![Bender, Tim Tim Bender](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Bender-Tim-circle-3c8e6849dd0968746bbd284f7a48c450-619e710bd3c6d.jpg)
Solar energy; photocatalysis
![Chin, Cathy Cathy Chin](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Chin-Cathy-circle-bb594672d0308de5c100279938cb6635-619e710bd3c54.jpg)
Heterogeneous catalysis; bioenergy
![DeMartini, Nikolai Niko DeMartini](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/DeMartini-Nikolai-scaled-circle-5c57147fda4d82b92ac54177726deef9-619e710bd3c68.jpg)
Reducing heat transfer fouling; biofuel generation/utilization
![Diosady, Levente Levente Diosady](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Diosady-Levente-circle-ac770687aef4bc975201ca46485a8a26-619e710bd3c6c.jpg)
Food engineering; food proteins; biofuels
![Edwards, Elizabeth Elizabeth Edwards](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Edwards-Elizabeth-907x1024-circle-7eca371395c7520ece82a8d7686aae2c-619e710bd3c6a.jpg)
Liquid biofuels; methanogenesis; life cycle assessment
![ramin farnood Ramin Farnood](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/ramin-farnood-circle-ce074e733ca22e22eca8439ee40d4308-619e73d5399f7.jpg)
Solar energy; membrane separation; photocatalysis
![Jia, Charles Charles Jia](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Jia-Charles-circle-0037f409232c1ea3b4db43fe8d85c277-619e710bd3c66.jpg)
Energy storage materials; biochar supercapacitor electrode; green energy production
![Kirk, Donald Don Kirk](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Kirk-Donald-circle-770d417bdc9bea7e8c2289515361265a-619e71c6cefc1.jpg)
Hydrogen production; polymers as a source of hydrogen
![Lawson, Chris Chris Lawson](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Lawson-Chris-circle-bc13fce5bde98c87b4b820bdfe55238f-619e73bab6bb5.jpg)
Liquid biofuels; methanogenesis; electrochemical technologies
![Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan Krishna Mahadevan](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Mahadevan-Radhakrishnan-circle-564f661c5c256a54b3917c78cf575741-619e73e63cc81.jpg)
Liquid biofuels; electrochemical technologies
![Mims, Charles Charles Mims](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Mims-Charles-scaled-circle-6685696b897b982c3c17b4010a2606a1-619e74a3abfa8.jpg)
Heterogeneous catalysis
![mohamad moosavi Mohamad Moosavi](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/mohamad-moosavi-circle-00591244c18d8437c8fff596abbbe26a-xnjqio7a0de8.jpg)
Energy storage; absorption separation; carbon capture
![Roger C. Newman Roger Newman](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Newman-Roger-scaled-circle-778ae2af10c79e6ff6c1ab63bd46ebd7-619e74a0942bf.jpg)
Nuclear power; corrosion and materials performance; electrochemistry
![Ramchandran, Arun Arun Ramchandran](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Ramchandran-Arun-circle-494a4bd2965b46a3c118b63f4cd8cdfa-619e75350af57.jpg)
Oil extraction
![Saville, Bradley Brad Saville](https://chem-eng.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Saville-Bradley-circle-d7b698c30834dfcb6f501a80378c49fa-619e74bddba83.jpg)
Liquid biofuels; technoeconomic assessment; life cycle assessment