Two early career researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Cao Thang Dinh and Laurence Yang, are successful recipients of funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration program. They are among 5 Research Programs at Queen’s to receive this funding this year.
NFRF Exploration grants support research that pushes boundaries into exciting areas. They are meant to inspire high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research. The researcher teams will receive funding in the amount of $250,000 over a two-year period.
Cao and Laurence’s project on “Electro-bio hybrid systems for converting carbon dioxide to bioplastic”, will work with a team of experts in electrochemical engineering, computational system biology, and microbiology to find solutions to improve the efficiency of bioprocesses – that is, processes that use living cells to convert carbon dioxide, renewable, non-food biomass and waste into chemicals with industrial applications – by powering them with renewable electricity such as wind and solar using an electrochemical process. Their research has potential impact in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as enabling cost-effective, large-scale production of biodegradable bioplastics to reduce plastic waste.
To learn more about the NFRF Exploration program and this years successful applicants, please visit their website.
This article appeared in its original form on Queen’s Gazette website.
