With companies and organizations around the world looking for alternatives to traditional fossil fuels, one researcher at Dal's Faculty of Agriculture is looking at new ways to change how fuels are produced using environmentally sustainable and readily available methods.
Sophia He is a chemical engineer on the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus. For more than 20 years, Dr. He has been working on reaction and separation engineering. More recently, sheās been focusing on biofuels and bio-product development.
āThe mission of a chemical engineer is to convert raw materials into useful products in an efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way, to improve the quality of life,ā Dr. He explains. āMy first ten years after graduating from college, had been devoted to optimizing petroleum refinery processes, increasing productivity and reducing pollution caused by sulfur in the crude oil.ā
Using non-conventional crops and bio-waste
Dr. He is now focusing on making fuels and bio-products from non-conventional crops and bio-waste such as agricultural and forestry residues, animal manure, agri-food processing waste and solid municipal waste. One area of her research looks at the development of on-farm biodiesel production.
āBio-diesel is renewable, biodegradable and can be directly used in diesel engines without modification, representing a promising substitute for petro-diesel,ā Dr. He says. āOur research group targets developing efficient biodiesel production processes on a farm scale from a variety of feedstock such as used cooking oil, canola and camelina.ā
Dr. He is also looking at the extraction of inulin- a functional food ingredient that comes from a low cost crop, Jerusalem artichoke. Jerusalem artichoke is a plant native to North America, thus suitable to grow in Nova Scotia. It has high growth rate, good tolerance to frost, drought and poor soil, strong resistance to pests and plant diseases and has little fertilizer requirements.
āThe inulin extracted from Jerusalem can be processed into bioethanol for energy application,ā Dr. He explains.
One other specific area of research that Dr. He is working on is the production and bio-refinery of crude bio-oil derived from bio-waste. Dr. He explains that a hydrothermal liquefaction process that works like a pressure cooker can generate crude bio-oil from all kinds of organic waste.Ā Ā
āI call it from waste to wealth,ā Dr. He says.
Community impact
Through her research, Dr. He hopes to have a significant impact on the local community and agriculture industry. She wants to reduce the reliance on petroleum fuels, decrease energy costs on farms and provide an alternative option for waste treatment.
āThis research really brings a new opportunity to the agriculture industry,ā Dr. He says. āAgriculture is one of the most important industries in Nova Scotia. Each year tons of agriculture waste is generated from current crop plantations. This, combined with the abundance of marginal land suitable for non-conventional crops, creates a sustainable advantage. At the same time, farm operations require significant amounts of liquid biofuels, mainly gasoline and diesel.ā
With these opportunities in mind, Dr. He hopes to find new solutions to replace the old methods of producing fuels, chemicals and commodities and reduce the burden on landfills and improve environmental sustainability.