Because they tend to rely on fossil fuels, chemical processes account for more than a quarter of the energy consumed by Canadian industry. Scientists are researching a new generation of more sustainable chemical processes that can use renewable energy sources instead. Microwave and ultrasound chemistry are two sustainable ways to use renewables. But designing and increasing the size of the reactors needed for these processes is challenging because of how electromagnetic and acoustic waves interact with the substances being processed.

The work of the Canada Research Chair in Computer-Assisted Design and Scale-up of Alternative Energy Vectors for Sustainable Chemical Processes is exploring new simulation tools to design and scale up microwave and ultrasound reactors to accelerate their use by industry. Ultimately, Prof. Blais and his research team expect their findings to apply to any process that uses microwave or ultrasound energy. Their discoveries could also help address both energy security and the climate crisis.