Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Access to safe drinking water has been considered as a fundamental human right by the United Nations (UN) since 2010. Unfortunately, more than 1.2 billion people has no access to safe drinking water (1). Further, limited surface water sources are polluted by untreated wastewaters. Every day, more than two million tons of human wastes are dumped into the water bodies; and more than 70% of industrial wastewater are entering into the receiving water body untreated in developing countries (1). Thus, it is highly desirable to develop a fundamental understanding of water science and water and wastewater purification technologies to solve water scarcity problems all over the world. Dr. Baoqiang Liao's research has been searching for the next generation of technologies for water purification since 2002. There are three main themes in their research: 1.) development of advanced membrane filtration technologies for drinking water production; 2.)Development of advanced membrane bioreactor technologies for sustainable wastewater treatment, bioenergy production and system closure; and 3.) Development of advanced membrane technologies for forest wastes biorefinery and microalgae cultivation, harvesting and biofuel production. Dr. Rennie is a Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Fisheries and has been focused on Freshwater ecology and effluent toxicity studies. All these research needs a fundamental understanding of water characteristics and its impact on water purification and effluent toxicity. Water science and technology are among the strategies research priorities of Lakehead University. There are more than 15 faculty members working in these research areas. To facilitate cutting-edge research in these areas, state-of-the-art research facilities, like a gel permeation chromatography (GPC), are essential and required for biopolymers (macromolecules, biopolymers, natural organic matters (NOM), hemicelluloses and lignin) characterization in water and wastewater. The proposed GPC system will provide fundamental information on sizes of water soluble polymers and biopolymers, which are essential for development of an understanding of polymer and biopolymer molecular interactions with membranes and thus optimization of membrane separation systems and its impact on treated effluent toxicity. This equipment will advance the applicants' research program significantly. This equipment will provide training of highly qualified personnel (HQPs) and improve process efficiency, process design and operations of membrane systems, and thus reduce the operating cost and the lifespan of membranes and the quality of treated effluent. It is anticipated that the addition of the proposed GPC will enhance the research capacity in these areas significantly and provide opportunities of HQP training in Northwestern Ontario and Canada. (1) Shannon et al. (2008), Nature, 452, 301-310.