(Queen’s, Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering) Professor, Alternative waste management, received an Ontario Early Researcher Award to develop economically viable biomass conversion processes (to extract useful products such as biofuels, biofibers and biopharmaceuticals) using livestock manures. Her research, which may be applied to other organic waste materials, will contribute to innovative and sustainable waste management approaches, and advance Ontario’s bio-based economy. Dr. Champagne has established a highly productive research program with projects ranging from the development of a supercritical water gasification process for the recovery of bioenergy from wet biomass, to the recovery of mono-sugars from agricultural wastes,
municipal and industrial sludges for subsequent conversion to bioethanol and chemical building block monomers (xylitol and sorbitol) via hydrogenation, and the use of codigestates to optimize biogas production in anaerobic digestion.