Grant: Alliance Grants

There has been growing attention to developing advanced and reliable technologies for bioenergy and value-added resources from waste, which can provide dual benefits of waste diversion and revenue generation. Many municipalities across Canada have already set aggressive waste diversion goals to reduce the environmental footprint of current waste management practices. The proposed collaboration with the University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) will explore eco-friendly and economic technologies that can lead to sustainable sources of renewable energy, materials (e.g., volatile fatty acids), as well as efficient waste management techniques. It will initiate different projects and proof-of-concept studies for resource recovery from waste. The impacts include: a greater understanding of the role of microbiome engineering in recovering resources, enhances the resource extraction from waste stream, and integrate the lifecycle assessment into Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). The proposed collaboration will focus on environmental impact categories that are most sensitive to Canadian ecosystems, including climate change and ozone depletion. It will result in significant environmental, technological, and economic benefits. Long-term impacts of this research can lead to ground-breaking advances in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) design that adopts WRRFs, thus facilitating the transition to a circular economy. The proposed research will help strengthen Canada's global reputation as a center for environmental research and innovation and enabling the training and technology transfer. State-of-the-art training enabled through this collaboration will increase the capacity of Canada's civil and environmental engineering industry, leading to job creation and fueling further economic impact. Canada will also benefit from the skilled HQPs who will be trained through this research.