News

Professor Tizazu Mekonnen’s research group has engineered a new method of capturing microplastics in water systems with 90 percent efficiency. The approach is customizable, inexpensive, easy to produce, and uses no toxic ingredients, making it promising for commercial and residential use.

Microplastics are ubiquitous and found in every corner of the planet. The problem is so prevalent that microplastics are also found in our bodies. A study from the National Institute of Health found microplastics can even be found in breast milk and can come from unexpected sources like your laundry.

“Our clothes are mostly a mix of Polyethylene terephthalate (PETs) in the form of polyester and cotton or pure polyester. When you pull out the dryer filter, you can see how much fiber it captures. Those are all microplastics and that filter can capture only a portion of it,” says Professor Tizazu Mekonnen.

Due to the high-speed spinning washing machines release even more microplastics, sending them into wastewater systems.

Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering are leveraging their diverse skills to boost food resilience in Ontario.

Dr. Nasser Mohieddin Abukhdeir and Dr. Christian Euler are collaborating with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) and the University of Guelph, to develop an advanced monitoring system that can detect early indicators of plant disease, infection, and stress in greenhouse crops before visible symptoms appear.

That initiative — funded by the governments of Canada and Ontario through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal, provincial and territorial initiative — could yield an important predictive tool for greenhouse production.

A similar spirit of problem‑solving drives another collaborative project, this time with industry partner Corteva Agrisciences and the University of Guelph. The challenge is Eastern Ontario farmers have struggled with the shorter growing season and a narrow window for planting winter wheat — often before soybeans are harvested.  

Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering have developed a new 3D-printed electrode design for redox flow batteries, a promising technology for storing energy generated by wind and solar power. Their work shows how carefully designed internal structures can help battery liquids move more effectively through the system while reducing the energy needed to pump the liquid.

Led by Professor Maxime van der Heijden, the research team created porous electrodes using 3D printing. The goal was to improve what engineers call mass transport, the movement of molecules in the battery liquid to the places where energy-storing reactions occur.

Redox flow batteries work differently from the lithium-ion batteries found in phones and electric vehicles. Instead of storing energy in solid materials, they store energy in liquid electrolytes held in external tanks. Because the amount of stored energy can be increased by using larger tanks, these batteries are attractive for large-scale renewable energy storage and grid applications.

Electrodes are a critical part of the battery because they provide the surface where chemical reactions take place. Making electrodes porous increases the available surface area and creates more locations where these reactions can occur.

The Department of Chemical Engineering’s Analytical Lab Facilities are helping advance research across the University of Waterloo and for external academic institutions, industry partners and emerging start-ups.

The Analytical Lab Facilities is a model of research infrastructure support, serving as a hub for materials characterization and chemical analysis, giving researchers access to technical expertise and specialized services, encouraging cross‑disciplinary innovation.

"Our goal is to lower the barriers to high-level research," says facility Director, Dr. Charles Dal Castel. "By providing access to advanced instrumentation and expert support, we can give researchers the tools they need to accelerate discovery."

The approach combines instruments centrally located in large communal laboratories with instruments in satellite locations (in laboratories managed by individual faculty). Much of the equipment has been acquired through grant funding, creating a shared resource that maximizes research impact.

Three chemical engineering graduate students won in the Academy of Research Commercialization (ARC) inaugural pitch competition.

ARC is a new program launched jointly between the Faculty of Engineering and the Conrad School of Business in collaboration with Velocity and WatCo (Waterloo Commercialization Office).

ARC provides programming such as fund preparation, and workshops for PhD students aiming to transform deep-tech research into for-profit ventures. 

Three entrepreneurially minded chemical engineering graduate students were winners of the competition.

Drew Davidson’s start-up ArcticEdge Technologies Inc. was one of the winners. Davidson, who is co-supervised by Professors Milad Kamkar and Valerie Ward, was inspired by his mother, Kelley Willemze who was a firefighter in Cambridge for over 30 years.

Professor Joshua Pulsipher is part of a team of researchers that have created a data-driven analysis system that could reveal how fires behave to better inform the building code, evacuation plans and advise first responders.

Fire behavior knowledge has not kept pace with today’s architecture and furnishing materials.Fabric and foam in modern furniture can produce toxic gases when on fire and the make-up and quantity of gases change during the evolution of a building fire. 

Historically, older buildings were highly ventilated. However, modern buildings are sealed for energy efficiency with a vapour barrier that blocks airflow from the outside, resulting in oxygen-starved conditions and fires leading to inefficient combustion, which creates more toxic gases along with smoke.

A research group led by Professor Tizazu Mekonnen has designed a lightweight, flexible polymer-based material that blocks X-ray radiation, offering a potential alternative to heavy lead aprons currently used.

X-rays are a necessary tool in medical diagnostics, industrial inspection, security screening, military applications and more. Exposure to radiation is a concern, highlighting the need for lightweight, lead-free shielding materials that protect against harmful radiation.

In a previous study investigations focused on using safer alternative elements to lead, which comes with its own health risks. Researchers experimented with using bismuth, tungsten, gadolinium, barium, and other heavy metals, as well as their compounds that were incorporated into a polymer matrix.

In the current work, the research group used tungsten because it has high density at the atomic level, which is effective in blocking x-ray radiation. The focus is on the polymer’s design architecture. The group discovered that when they added more tungsten nanoparticles, the material blocked X-ray radiation better but became stiff.

A student lead research team designs an easy method to generate programmed shape-change and movement in soft robots.

The team worked with hydrogels—soft, tissue‑like materials that are biocompatible. These materials are promising for developing microrobots to perform non-invasive biomedical tasks within biological media, like gastrointestinal or reproductive tracts. Their approach could pave the way to create motion in soft robots and other smart devices, opening the door to a new generation of soft medical devices.

This research was driven by student curiosity. PhD student Negin Bouzari was inspired by a review paper.

Her supervisor Hamed Shahsavan, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, hired four undergraduate co-op students from across faculties to assist with her research.

A research team on point with Waterloo’s commitment to bringing undergrads into the heart of cutting-edge research and fueling interdisciplinary collaboration.

Cole Fredericks is a master’s student in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Fredericks also did his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering (BASc '25) at the University of Waterloo.

Fredericks was the recipient of the Canada Student Merit Award by the Society of Chemical Industry, which is bestowed upon students who have attained the highest standing in their fourth year of a chemical engineering undergraduate degree.

For Fredericks, earning this distinction was the culmination of a mindset shaped by a lifelong love of learning and harmony in life both inside and outside the classroom.

“I have always been very curious and tried my best in everything that I did academically. My philosophy is that learning itself is a skill that must be practised, a muscle that must be exercised to better master what really interests you,” says Fredericks.

A research group led by Professor Michael Tam has developed a new water-based pesticide delivery formulation that dramatically improves how pesticides stick to plant leaves even in wind and rain.

Early field trials conducted with an industrial partner in Singapore demonstrated the potential of the technology. Cabbage plots were seeded with insect pests and the water-based formulation outperformed conventional pesticide systems, delivering better pest control using less active ingredients.

Current pesticide delivery systems rely on chemicals and solvents to help pesticide droplets stay on plant leaves and spread, which can be harmful to the environment.

 Standard practice is crops are protected by pesticides via liquid sprays using nozzles, mist sprays or from airplanes as a result, pesticides do not always reach their intended target, bouncing off plant leaves, drifting into the air or washing into soil and waterways leading to economic loss for farmers and environmental contamination.