John Scott

Research

Active Research Projects (for more details, please click on: http://www.ongen.ca)

The research targets are looking at existing resources and how they can be developed and/or repurposed to address societal needs to maximize sustainable outcomes. Every research area listed below has direct involvement and support by industry and/or regional agency (e.g., municipal government) through significant technical and financial support. I also make use of contacts established through participation in lectures, site tours and expert advice for engineering design project teams. 

Capture and repurposing of waste industrial energy:

Enhanced energy security and reduced fossil fuel dependence for large and small industry through new on-site concepts to recover and reuse on-site otherwise waste thermal energy – in line with at taking a “fresh look”, a lot of the focus is on low-grade heat repurposing, much of which is currently dismissed as not worthy of capture.

Bioprospecting for natural disease fighting agents (antioxidants, anticancer, antibiotic and antivirals):

The rapid rise in antibiotic resistance and catastrophic consequences of the current pandemic emphasize the urgency for finding new sources of natural bioactive compounds. To address this demand, we are uniquely bioprospecting microalgae found in stressed water bodies across Canada. This is the first time that has been done and we have found exceptional levels of health beneficial compounds, and to compliment also looking at mass-production designs that can be utilized locally to generate new business opportunities. 

Capture of CO2 from small volume sources:

As part of my philosophy of looking for local (or indeed overlooked) opportunity, I have collaborative research and development exploring environmental and economic, benefits from capturing and repurposing carbon dioxide (CO2) from relatively small volume sources – such as biogas combustion (e.g., from landfill) and diesel electricity generators, as well SMEs, such as micro and small breweries – not just to mitigate emissions but to generate new local income sources. 

Green energy:

In the push towards creating economies that encourage investment and growth in renewable energy, concepts to allow year-round production in Canada of biodiesel from microalgae and waste food products to satisfy regional energy demands has been a study of several years.

Advanced photo-catalytic destruction of anthropogenic compounds to protect drinking water:

The novel design for simultaneous disinfection and degradation of waterborne contaminants such as POPs and endocrine disruptors to provide economic safe water for individual households up to small communities – the design philosophy is simplicity of manufacture, installation and maintenance. 

Automated mining:

Working with the mining industry to investigate productivity and safety impacts from introducing automated and electric mining equipment into mine operations – the goal is to identify and quantify beneficial modifications to implementation and operating practices (including operator awareness training) to optimize the best outcomes.

Life cycle assessment as a tool to assess the sustainability of new technologies:

World-wide industry in general is rapidly introducing significantly more automation to enhance productivity and safety - our work is to demonstrate that an LCA approach can be adapted to add a third dimension, assessing resulting improved environmental impacts to aid not just economic decisions, but also governmental and societal approval. 

Sustainability performance benchmarking:

There is opportunity for a “universal” means to quantify impacts on a relative scale from introduction of sustainable design and operational practices – to meet that we are developing a sustainability performance index that measures and quantifies improvements by using performance benchmarks metrics. 

For more details, please click on: http://www.ongen.ca

Awards

Grants active since 2020:

Teaching

Undergraduate courses taught:

Bioprocess Engineering

Engineering capstone design project

Mass and energy balances

Engineering, technology and society

Water and wastewater treatment

Environmental impacts of industry

Pollution control

Graduate courses taught:

Concepts of sustainable design

Sustainability and opportunity with the developing bioeconomy

Bioprocess engineering 

Publications

Recent refereed journal articles (2020 - to date) (for a full list of publications, please go to my CV: www.ongen.ca/JAScott.html)

Rinaldi, K., Laamanen, C.A., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2024) Antimicrobial Activity of Green PhotosyntheticMicroalgae Adapted to Abiotically Stressed Environments. Algal Research. Algal Research. 78, 103427

Senhorinho, G.N.A., Lannér, C., Laamanen, C.A., Cunha Lima, S.T., Scott, J.A. (2024) Freshwater eukaryotic and prokaryotic microalgae as a source of compounds with anticancer activities - Part 2: bioprospecting species from natural freshwater habitats and extreme environments. International Journal onAlgae (in press)

Senhorinho, G.N.A., Lannér, C., Laamanen, C.A., Cunha Lima, S.T. and Scott, J.A. (2024) Freshwater eukaryotic and prokaryotic microalgae as a source of compounds with anticancer activities - Part 1: background and assessment. International Journal on Algae 26:3, 219-234

Fawcett, C.A., Laamanen, C.A., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2024) The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation onthe Production of Antioxidant Compounds from Bioprospected Acid Tolerant Microalgae. Industrial Biotechnology (inpress)

McGrath, S.J., Laamanen, C.A., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2024) Microalgal harvesting for biofuels – options and associated operational costs. Algal Research. 77, 103343

Comley, J.G, Scott, J.A. and Laamanen, C.A. (2023) Utilizing CO2 in industrial off-gas for microalgae cultivation: considerations and solutions. Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. doi.org/10.1080/07388551.2023.2233692

Gauthier, M.R., Senhoriho, G.N.A., Basiliko, N., Desjardins, S.M. and Scott, J.A. (2022) Green photosynthetic microalgae from low pH environments associated with mining as a potential source of antioxidants. Industrial Biotechnology. 18:3, 168-175

Desjardins, S.M., Laamanen, C.A., Basiliko, N., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2022) Dark stress for improved lipid quantity and quality in bioprospected acid-tolerant green microalgae. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 369:1, fnac057

Gauthier, M.R., Senhoriho, G.N.A., Basiliko, N., Desjardins, S.M. and Scott, J.A. (2022) Green photosynthetic microalgae from low pH environments associated with mining as a potential source of antioxidants. Industrial Biotechnology. 18:3, 168-175

McLean, S.H., Chenier, J., Muinonen, S., Moreau, K., Laamanen, C.A., and Scott, J.A. (2022) A comparative life-cycle assessment of a sulphuric acid plant with and without on-site low-grade heat recovery and repurposing. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 27:5, 655-664

Fawcett, C.A., Senhorinho, G.N.A, Laamanen, C.A. and Scott. J.A. (2022) Microalgae as an alternative to oil crops for edible oils and animal feed. Algal Research, 64, 102663

Laamanen, C.A., Moreau, K., Desjardins, S.M., McLean, S.H. and Scott, J.A. (2021) The use of microalgal sourced biodiesel to help underground mines transition to battery electric vehicles. Journal of Sustainable Mining. 31:6 1159-1167

Chan-Yam, K., Meyer, T., Scott, J.A. and Basiliko N. (2021) Methane production potential of pulp mill sludges: microbial community and substrate constraints. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 368:21-24

Moreau, K., Laamanen, C.A., Bose, R., Shang, H. and Scott, J.A. (2021) Environmental impact improvements due to introducing automation into underground copper mines. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology. 31:6 1159-1167

Jiao, Y., Shang, H. and Scott, J.A. (2021) A UVC based advanced photooxidation reactor design for remote households and communities not connected to a municipal drinking water system. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 9:3, 105162

Laamanen, C.A., Desjardins, S.M., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2021) Harvesting microalgae for health beneficial dietary supplements. Algal Research. 54, 102189

Desjardins. S.M., Laamanen, C.A., Basiliko, N. and Scott, J.A. (2021) Selection and re-acclimation of bioprospected acid-tolerant green microalgae suitable for growth at low pH. Extremophiles. 25:2, 129-141

Little, S.M., Gerusa N. A. Senhorinho, G.N.A., Saleh, M., Basiliko, N. and Scott, J.A. (2021) Antibacterial compounds in green microalgae from extreme environments. Algae. 36:1, 61-72

Gauthier, M.R., Senhorinho, G.N.A. and Scott, J.A. (2020) Microalgae under environmental stress as a source of antioxidants. Algal Research. 52, 102104

Moreau, K., Laamanen, C.A., Bose, R., Shang, H. and Scott, J.A. (2020) Life cycle assessment to demonstrate how automation improves the sustainability performance of an underground mining operation. Journal of Sustainable Mining. 19, 182-194

Senhorinho, G.N.A., Lanner, C. and Scott, J.A. (2020) The importance of harvesting time on the screening of Chlamydomonas spp. extracts for antibacterial activity. International Journal on Algae. 22:3, 269-278

McLean, S.H., Chenier, J., Muinonen, S., Laamanen, C.A. and Scott, J.A. (2020) Recovery and repurposing of thermal resources in the mining and mineral processing industry. Journal of Sustainable Mining. 19:115-125

Desjardins, S.M., Laamanen, C.A., Basiliko, N. and Scott, J.A. (2020) Utilization of lipid-extracted biomass (LEB) to improve the economic feasibility of biodiesel production from green microalgae. Environmental Reviews. 28:3, 325-338

McLean, S.H., Chenier, J., Muinonen, S., Laamanen, C.A. and Scott, J.A. (2020) Low-grade waste heat recovery and repurposing to reduce the load on cooling towers. Advances in Energy Research. 7:2 147-166

Laamanen C.A. and Scott J.A. (2020) Microalgae biofuel bioreactors for mitigation of industrial CO2 emissions. In Bioreactors. Eds. Singh, L., Yousuf, Y. and Mahapatra, M. Elsevier Pub. 1-16

Jiao, Y., Basiliko, N., Kovala, A.T., Shepherd, J., Shang, H. and Scott, J.A. (2020) TiO2 based nanopowder coatings over stainless steel plates for UV-C photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. 98, 728-729

For a full list of publications, please go to my CV: www.ongen.ca/JAScott.html