Bishnu Acharya, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the U of S, received a Mitacs Innovation Award.
A researcher at the University of Saskatchewan is attracting some attention for his work, which aims to help reduce waste from the processing of certain agricultural products.
Bishnu Acharya, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the U of S, was recently recognized with a Mitacs Innovation Award.
The goal of his research is to turn the byproduct created from processing crops such as canola, flaxseed and oats into something useful.
Mitacs, which is funded by various levels of government to support innovation in a range of sectors, provided support for Acharya’s work.
After these crops go through oil extraction or related processes, the resulting byproduct currently has to be disposed of, which adds an expense for the processors, Acharya said. That means the relevant industries are motivated to find alternatives, which is helpful for researchers like himself.
“Definitely they are looking at, you know, how better they can utilize those biomasses,” he said.
His research mandate is focused on adding value to low-value biomass and other agricultural byproducts. It involves working to convert these byproducts into something that could be used in energy applications or for chemical materials, Acharya said.
For example, he and his research team connected with a business based in Martinsville, Sask. and developed a way to extract something useful from leftover oat hulls.
“We’ve developed a process for converting or extracting a high value sugar from those oat hulls,” he said.
Research is also underway into possible uses for fibres they’ve been able to extract from oat hulls, and possible industrial uses for them. Part of the work is an effort to come up with ways to adapt these processes to a larger industrial scale.
“We have completed the pilot this summer (and are) looking at developing different byproducts from the sugars and fibre we extracted,” he said.
This potential use for oat hull fibres is new; related research has primarily focused on using this byproduct to produce energy.
Aside from the economic benefits, Acharya said finding new uses for leftover materials is also helpful for companies that want to make their processes more sustainable. Another hope is that some leftover biomasses could be used as replacements for fossil fuels.
Acharya said he has also been undertaking research into converting flax biomass into a power source to replace coal in certain areas.
“The whole idea is, you know, how can we develop more bio-based, environmentally friendly product,” he said.
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