Microalgae-based Eco-plastic
Partners: Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG)
Global issues with increasing population and accumulation of plastic wastes is creating pressures to create new environmentally sustainable solutions. The goals of this research are to create Eco-plastic from microalgae grown on effluent (fertilizer) wastewater generated during Greenhouse based production operations. Bio-composite materials offer a renewable and biodegradable alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. The use of biomass such as microalgae is an emerging strategy for incorporating renewable and biodegradable properties into materials. Their ability to be grown on diverse media such as waste water and the ability to fix carbon dioxide provides the added environmental benefits. Their high lipid content and pigments offer opportunities in the energy and nutraceutical markets. By combining microalgae cultivated on the waste stream and vegetable residue, bio composites will be created for in house applications for the Greenhouse vegetable grower industry. In this project, two goals are being achieved (a)recycling water and (b) replacing plastic) by providing an innovative, economical solution based on a previously proven in our laboratory. . The recycled clean water will help to reduce the water footprint in the Greenhouse industry. The conversion and sequestration of GHG (CO2) will lead to carbon neutral/ carbon negative solutions to reduce the carbon footprint.
Researcher Biography
Dr. Amarjeet Bassi is a Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at Western University. His research interests include micro-algal applications for clean water and value recovery, integrated technologies for water refining and nutrient and energy recovery using biological systems, bio-separations and biosensors.
His research group at Western invented the world’s first circulating fluidized bed ion exchange chromatography system in 2002 (US Patents 6716334 B1 and 6887386 B2). This uninterrupted ion exchange (UIX) is undergoing commercialization and is currently under licence to Renix Inc. (www.renix.ca).
Dr. Bassi has graduated over 45 HQP (PhDs, M.E.Sc and PDFs/Research Associates). and supervised over 50 undergraduate research students. The HQP are well placed in industry or academia. He has over 150 scientific articles including peer-reviewed journal papers, patents, book chapters and refereed conference papers and 100 plus invited or other conference presentations. Dr. Bassi has co-edited one book on Smart Biosensor Technologies and is currently a second edition is being completed.
Currently Dr. Bassi is supervising five Ph.D students, three PDFs, two M.Eng students and two undergraduate students. Since starting at Western, Dr. Bassi has held many grants including from Canada Foundation for Innovation, NSERC Strategic Project grants, OMAFRA New Directions etc. He has served as Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, and Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology and also as the President of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.
Dr. Bassi has received the Distinguished Speaker Award from IChE in 2007 and the Engineering Science Prize for Outstanding Teaching at Western in 2000.
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
- Indian Chemical Congress, Distinguished Speaker Award for Contributions to the Chemical Engineering Profession, Dec. 28, 07, Kolkata, India 2007
- SPIE Optics East Best Paper Award “Reconfigurable microfluidic chip based on a light sensitive hydrogel” presented at the Conference on Optomechatronics, Actuators and Manipulators, 2006
- Engineering Science Prize for Outstanding Teaching, Western University, 2000
Professional Activities
- Panel Member, Natural Sciences and Engineering (NSERC) Strategic Grants (Environment) 2014-2017
- President, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering 2014-2015
- Vice President, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering 2013-2014
- Member, Editorial Board, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering 2012-present
- Associate Editor, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering; 2008-2012
- Associate Editor, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 2008-2012
- Technical Program Chair, 61st CSCHE conference. London, Ontario, Oct.; 2011 2010-2011
- Guest Editor, Energy and Fuels (special issue), 2010
- Program visitor, Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board CEAB) external Program Visitor to several universities
