Nouvelles
Polytechnique Montréal civil engineering master student Dominique Claveau-Mallet is an Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles winner for the month of August
On August 22, Québec's Chief Scientist, Rémi Quirion, announced the names of the month's three winners of the Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles, a competition held by the three major Québec research funding agencies (the Fonds de recherche du Québec).
Dominique Claveau-Mallet earned this honour from the Fonds Nature et Technologies for her article Model of phosphorus precipitation and crystal formation in electric arc furnace steel
slag filters, published in Environmental Science and Technology, February
7 2012, Vol. 46, Issue 3, pp 1465-1470.
“In this article, we propose a model for phosphorus removal mechanisms in slag filters. The usefulness of this model lies
in its new approach to defining slag filter treatment performance, which is traditionally modeled by absorption. Three
laboratory-scale slag filters were fed for 30 to 630 days. We showed that the rate of crystal growth and water velocity affect
the spatial organization of the crystals, which in turn determines the retention capacity of the filter.”
This article will have beneficial effects for the environment in the long term. The release of phosphorus to the environment
causes significant problems, even at low concentrations. Phosphorus is discharged from many wastewater treatment systems, and
upgrading these systems would require major investments. If used, the model under study would substantially decrease slag
filter installation costs since their lifespan and removal performance could be established without preliminary testing.
Reducing the cost of installing slag filters would make it more feasible to upgrade several types of treatment systems,
including septic tanks.
The competition aims to recognize excellence in research carried out by college and university students, post-doctoral interns
and members of professional orders who are taking advanced research training, in all the disciplines covered by the three
Fonds, while also promoting research careers in Québec.
Once a month, each of the Fonds gives a $1,000 award to a student researcher. To see the summaries of the productions and the
photos of the other winners, visit www.frq.gouv.qc.ca.
Our heartiest congratulations to Ms. Claveau-Mallet!
Please note that it is still possible to register for the second contest. The deadline is September 1, 2012.
The winner's photo comes from the Fonds de recherche du Québec website.
