Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Carbon waste, including waste and wastewater, is an unavoidable outcome of our daily activities. Energy and resource recovery from carbon waste – with potential applications in electricity, heat, chemicals, and fuels – presents an attractive option for sustainable management and supports global efforts to achieve a low-carbon future. Traditional anaerobic biotechnologies, such as anaerobic digestion and microbial fermentation, use microbes to refine carbon in waste/wastewater into renewable energy and bioproducts. However, these bioprocesses frequently suffer from low productivity and inevitably produce carbon dioxide as a by-product. Therefore, disruptive and scientifically grounded innovations are needed to revamp conventional anaerobic bioprocesses. Dr. Dhar’s proposed Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Microbial Electrocatalysis for Energy and Environment aims to apply electroactive microbes as biocatalysts for anaerobic bioprocesses. Microbial electrocatalysts are microbes with unique electron harvesting and transporting features that can lead to more efficient routes for converting carbon waste to target bioproducts. However, field applications of such approaches have been elusive due to a lack of fundamental understanding and engineering developments. Dr. Dhar’s team will combine process engineering, molecular biology, and modeling tools to overcome bottlenecks in integrating these biocatalysts into anaerobic bioprocesses. The outcomes from this CRC program will advance knowledge in engineering design, upscaling, and process optimization for engineering microbial electrocatalysis. These novel processes will use carbon resources in urban waste/wastewater facilities to create high-value bioproducts, such as pipeline-quality biogas, green hydrogen, and medium-chain carboxylates. Dr. Dhar’s research will also provide an in-depth assessment of the fate of emerging pollutants in these systems, such as (nano)microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes, to mitigate unintended environmental risks. Thus, this CRC will offer world-class research and training opportunities leading to innovation and support the circular economy transitions of the waste/wastewater sector within Canada and beyond.