Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Environmental Protection

About the Chair

The Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Environmental Protection is responsible for developing innovative water treatment technologies to protect our water resources and adapt our infrastructure to meet today’s and tomorrow’s environmental challenges.

Research Objectives

Develop new and advanced aggregation processes to improve the capacity of drinking and waste water treatment plants.
Create sustainable infrastructure and passive processes for treating runoff and drainage water to protect water resources.
Develop new functionalized materials to remove emerging contaminants and meet new environmental standards.
Intercept various key contaminants (nutrients: P, N, and K) in urban and agricultural waste waters.

A peaceful rural landscape featuring lush fields, silos, a serene lake, and a charming barn, exemplifying agricultural life.

A serene landscape featuring calm water surrounded by vibrant autumn foliage and lush green forests under a clear blue sky.

Anticipated Outcomes

Our technologies, combining advanced aggregation, sedimentation, and filtration, are expected to:

Remove more standard and emerging contaminants from urban and agricultural waters.
Limit the environmental impact of cities and agriculture on aquatic biodiversity.
Protect our drinking water sources.
Reduce the environmental footprint and cost of water treatment technologies.

Contaminant removal improvement using functionalized fibers

The diagram compares two approaches to water treatment: 1. A conventional process without fibers; and 2. An improved process using functionalized fibers. The section of the diagram on the conventional treatment shows the classic steps: Coagulation, flocculation, settling, and granular or membrane filtration. The diagram illustrates how the process especially generates small flocs that become difficult to trap during filtration, which results in its limited efficiency. It also emphasizes the need to use a coagulant (such as alum) and a flocculant in addition to issues of pressure loss and other constraints associated with the fixed porosity of the filters. The performance data for this process shows the relatively low rate of removal of nanoplastics, microplastics, microfibres, and natural organic matter. The second section of the diagram introduces the treatment using fibers, where the combined injection of polyacrylamide and fibers leads to the formation of much larger flocs. These flocs are much more easily removed by a screen or a simple filtration system, reducing the need for settling and granular filtration. The diagram highlights a reduction in the use of chemicals, negligible pressure loss, and the ability to adjust the mesh size of the screen. The performance data shows a considerable improvement in contaminant removal, with significantly higher removal rates than conventional processes.

Two approaches to water treatment: A conventional process without fibers and an improved process using functionalized fibers.

About the Chairholder

Professor Mathieu Lapointe has unique expertise in Canada in the fields of the environment, water management, and public health. His work has been published in prestigious scientific journals, including Nature Sustainability and Nature Water and has led to a number of patents. These innovative technologies will make it possible to remove more emerging contaminants (including microplastics, nanoplastics, PFAS, etc.) and help cities and agriculture adapt to climate change.

Professor Lapointe is also the Director of the Water Engineering and Environmental Processes Laboratory (LGEPE) at ÉTS. His proposed areas of research in water management are still largely unexplored and are ripe for significant innovation. Meanwhile, cities, industries, and the agricultural sector are in dire need of highly qualified personnel (HQP).

His research group is already a world leader in the field of water management.

Team

The Chair is supported by a talented research team to advance its innovations, including:

More than 20 master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral students;
A research associate;
Two research assistants.

Our activities take place in the laboratory and in the field with our partners (treatment plants, agricultural fields).

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Le professeur Mathieu Lapointe.

Partners

We collaborate with several key players in Canada :

Ministries

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs
Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation
Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie

Municipalities

Montréal
Longueuil
Victoriaville

Companies

Kemira
Soleno
Fournier Industries

Contact us

Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Environmental Protection

1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal, Quebec
Room: A-2637
Email: mathieu.lapointe@etsmtl.ca

"Students engaged in advanced technical research in a university lab."

Research at ÉTS

ÉTS provides an ideal environment for conceiving and creating the ideas that will shape the world of the future.

Learn more about
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