Innovative Waste Management Research Program at NSAC

Teaching

ENGN 2002 (Introduction to Systems Analysis)
SPEC4012 (Directed Studies in Agricultural Engineering)
RESM400 & 4001 (IEM Project Seminar I and II)
ENVS 2002 (Composting and Compost Use)

The Research Program

The waste management research program in the Department of Engineering  focuses on environmental sustainability and value-addition approaches to agricultural and non-agricultural by-products.  Atlantic Canada’s agricultural and aquaculture sectors are highly diversified but face economic challenges as both world markets and government environmental policies continue to shift.  Waste management research takes advantage of state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation to evaluate the environmental impacts of agricultural wastes.  Graduate and undergraduate students join a collaborative network of researchers within NSAC and globally tackling the challenges of managing organic wastes.
Recent research initiatives have examined the impact of livestock manure storage conditions on greenhouse gas emissions, monitoring of pharmaceuticals in soils and water from land applied municipal biosolids, through to composting of agricultural and non-agricultural organic by-products.  Additional areas of emphasis include exploring value added opportunities for organic wastes through conversion into biomass fuels, use of composts as containment systems for oil spills, and development of commercial bio-fertilizers for use in organic agriculture.