Media

OTTAWA, June 14, 2011  —  The University of Ottawa has received over $1.5 million from Carbon Management Canada in support of two major projects that could help significantly reduce the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming.

Professor Daniel Krewski, director of the R. Samuel McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, will lead a $930,000 collaboration of experts from Ottawa, Waterloo and Calgary to develop a tailored-for-Canada framework for risk assessment and management of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Another $635,000 will go to research led by Professor Abdelhamid Sayari, of the Department of Chemistry, to integrate fuel-cell use with carbon capture.

“These research projects are a testament to the University’s dedication to finding the best solutions to the pressing environmental dangers that Canadians, and the rest of the world, face,” said Mona Nemer, vice-president, research at the University of Ottawa.

The researchers’ first goal will be to understand the technical and scientific aspects of putting CO₂ deep in Earth’s crust. Along with examining the impact of carbon storage on underground geological formations, the team will investigate concerns over leakage and possible effects on human health.

The four-year project also includes applying strategies and models developed for other technologies, as well as recent findings, to the specific case of CCS, and then informing the public, government agencies, regulators, the private sector and NGOs about the potential uses of CCS.

The other major project, led by Professor Abdelhamid Sayari, Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Materials for Catalysis and Separation, in collaboration with the University of Calgary, will seek to develop what could become the world’s first zero-emissions solid oxide fuel cell.

Most Canadians rely on electricity generated at large-scale power plants and transported long distances along high-voltage power lines. In contrast, solid oxide fuel cells, or SOFCs, are small units that could be used to provide electricity—up to one megawatt—to a single home or neighbourhood.

Professor Sayari proposes to trap CO₂ with a patented material developed at his University of Ottawa lab. Pure CO₂ could then be removed from the material and stored elsewhere. Additionally, during off-peak hours, electricity that might otherwise be wasted could be used to convert the pure CO₂ back into syngas — synthetic gas containing varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen — which would be reused in the fuel cell at another time.

About the University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa, one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, contributes significantly to the development of clean technologies. We are committed to research excellence and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation, which attracts the best academic talent from across Canada and around the world.

About Carbon Management Canada (www.cmc-nce.ca)
Carbon Management Canada is a Network of Centres of Excellence supported by federal and provincial governments as well as industry. CMC is a community of people with the vision, the commitment, and the enthusiasm needed to eliminate carbon emissions in the upstream fossil energy industry. CMC comprises over 140 world-class researchers in 25 Canadian universities.