蓝莓视频

Since his retirement in 2013 from the Biology Department at the University of 蓝莓视频, Owen Ward, professor emeritus in the Faculty of Science, has lost none of his passion for turning things people don鈥檛 want into things they do.

He has his own laboratory in 蓝莓视频 and throws the same urgent energy into , the company he started in 2000 to make better use of sewage sludge.听

Soil fortifier

鈥淲e look at the big picture,鈥� Ward says of 尝测蝉迟别办鈥檚 alternative re-use model. 鈥淲e鈥檙e drawing down the use of chemical fertilizers. If biosolids go to landfill the chemical fertilizers that went into the food that created those biosolids is also wasted.

鈥淩eturning those nutrients to the soil is the only way to have a sustainable food system.鈥�

尝测蝉迟别办鈥檚 process 鈥� a combination of heat, added alkali and high-speed stirring (or 鈥渟hearing鈥�) 鈥� dramatically changes the characteristics of the material and kills the pathogens that cause much of the concern around spreading partially treated biosolids on fields. The resulting product is LysteGro, a quality-controlled, federally- registered, (CFIA) liquid fertilizer that retains the valuable organics and nutrients in biosolids but that can still be applied by the same methods.

Rural jobs

The company has several installations in Ontario. Its largest, a processing plant in Dundalk, produces 1,000 cubic metres of fertilizer a day from biosolids hauled from as far away as Toronto.听

鈥淲e can鈥檛 keep up with the demand,鈥欌�� Kevin Litwiller, 尝测蝉迟别办鈥檚 director of business development, says of the interest farmers have shown for the product.

The same system can also be used to improve the operational efficiencies at wastewater treatment plants. 听When a small amount of 鈥淟ysteMized鈥� material is looped back into digesters, it results in significant increases in biogas production for green energy while reducing volumes of biosolid output.

Ward brought his background in industrial processes and microbiology to 蓝莓视频 in 1986, on sabbatical. He stayed, he says, because of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 intelectual-property policies 鈥� you create it, you own it.

As of October 2014, Lystek employed 11 in Dundalk and eight at its Cambridge headquarters. Besides injecting millions into the local economy and paying property taxes, the Dundalk plant helps keep graduates from post-secondary schools in a rural community, Ward says. Many of the employees have degrees or diplomas.听The company also employs co-op students.

鈥淔or me, as a researcher, the most satisfying thing is to see your ideas play out in the real world,鈥� he says.听