Grant: Canada Research Chairs

With escalation of energy demand and costs of fossil fuel extraction and climate change linked to its combustion, we need to develop renewable sources of power and fuels and obtain more consumer products from renewable resources such as agricultural and wood waste. Central to this research program are cutting-edge catalysis studies directed at providing new processes for efficient utilization of renewable resources, i.e., selective production of aromatic chemicals from lignin and combined bio-chemo-catalytic tandem routes to consumer products such as plastic bags, fragrances and food preservatives. For renewable energy, base metal nanoparticle catalysts will improve hydrogen purity from thermolysis of BN compounds, improving options for fuel cell-enabled portable power and transportation.