RE/ACTION: Biotechnology students work to turn biowaste into natural energy

Posted on Monday, April 10th, 2023

Learners in the Biotechnology – Advanced program are working to change how we view common waste items, like food scraps, by turning biological waste into sustainable energy. Their biogas production project will be one of the many on display at the RE/ACTION Showcase on April 14.

Students Patrick Gravel, Colleen Griffith and Luke Seldenthuis-Preville have been hard at work experimenting with anaerobic digestion, a process that breaks down organic material in an enclosed vessel to create methane and other natural gasses.

“We’re doing tests on wood chips, our substrate, and what we’re [doing] with that is characterizing them, testing them for certain chemicals and putting them in bottles of manure,” said Gravel. “We run [the bottles] through daily tests to see how much biogas these bottles can produce.

“Over the past month or two, we’ve been preparing samples, running tests on them and measuring gas production every day since the beginning of March.”

According to Gravel, this project was chosen in large part due to the inherent sustainability behind converting common waste products into energy – turning “someone’s trash into treasure,” as he called it. Millions of tons of food waste and biological refuse are sent to landfills each year, releasing massive quantities of methane and other gasses directly into the atmosphere. By studying biogas production and the ability to capture it for energy use, researchers like Gravel and his team are adding to a growing body of work that could eventually make a significant impact on the environment and change how we view food and other biological materials.

“The solid [waste] can always be turned into fertilizer, that’s an important recycling method for farmers,” said Gravel. “The gas … is energy that can be converted for a cooking stove, could replace a propane tank, there are many different end goals for the energy that’s being created here.”

The scientific processes being followed by the group are currently in use on an industrial scale and for consumer purchase. However, the group’s professor, Charles Nasmith, noted that projects like Gravel’s are “hugely necessary” when it comes to scalability, providing the group members with a foundation to tackle more demanding projects in possible future careers.

“It’s critical to get all the ducks in order at this bench-top, pilot-scale, stage of the project. Accurate data at this stage will effectively inform the next steps, as the project is scaled up,” said Nasmith.

Gravel and his team are looking forward to presenting their findings on April 14 at the RE/ACTION Showcase, joining the ranks of innovative learners that make Algonquin College thrive. Click here for more information about the showcase and click here to register.

“I want to expose my [research] at this event, I want to be proud and present what I’ve worked on for the past year. I would like to see all this work that I’ve put in with my group and display it for others to see,” said Gravel. “I [also] want to make connections with people who might be interested in the work I’m doing, as I can definitely see myself doing this post-graduation.”


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