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Oct 19, 2018

Water is foundational to human life. Many of us live in places where it is clean, cheap and flows freely from the tap, and where it can be taken for granted. But a billion people go without adequate access to clean drinking water, and due to the enormous increase in the demand for water from agriculture and industry, by 2040 most countries will not be able to meet their basic water needs. And water is a finite resource that exists in an ever-moving ecosystem. What we pour down the sink or flush down the toilet must come back. Are we paying enough attention?

Ben chats with Pascale Champagne, Professor of Engineering at Queen's University and Director of the Beaty Water Research Centre.

About the Guest

 

Enhancing the value and sustainability of our natural and renewable resources has important societal, economic and environmental impacts. The key to ensuring a sustainable future requires the integration of a resource management approach for the valorization of residual streams and environmentally sound processes in the production of energy, fuels and bioproducts from natural and renewable materials. Scientific and technical progress in this field is increasingly dependent on the development and application of more environmentally sustainable processes; recovery, reuse and valorization of waste streams; and the discovery of innovative routes in the extraction and synthesis of bio-based products. The integration of lower environmental impact technologies and green chemistry is paramount to establishing a future supply of green and sustainable bio-based energy, fuel materials and chemical products, as well as a better management of liquid and solid waste streams. The challenge is clear – develop technologies that will be both efficient and effective over a long lifetime that will be compatible with the natural environment.

Dr. Pascale Champagne’s research focuses on the development of alternate water and waste management strategies and environmentally sustainable approaches with a focus on integrated bioresource management. Her research activities are interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary and have commonality with the fields of environmental and chemical engineering, biology and green chemistry; hence, she collaborates and has evolved synergistic relationships with a number of researchers in these fields to develop new integrated bioresource management practices, to introduce alternate aqueous and solid waste management approaches, and to create unique opportunities for the bioenergy and bioproducts sectors.

Learn more about Pascale.