Catherine H. Niu B.Eng., M.Eng., Ph.D.

Education and Experience

B.Eng
M.Eng.(Sichuan, China)
Ph.D.(McGill)

My research area focuses on biosorption which utilizes inexpensive non-living biomaterials called biosorbents to sequester chemicals of interest. Biosorbents are prepared from the naturally abundant or waste biomass of algae, moss, fungi, bacteria or waste parts of plants and animals, which act just as adsorbents of biological origin.  The reusability and the low cost of biosorbents make the process economical and competitive. My research includes developing and characterizing biosorbents, optimizing biosorption processes, and studying the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium. The diversified and promising applications of biosorption technology lead to the development of my research projects as follows.

Dehydration of fuel bioalcohols

There is a greatly increasing interest in using bioalcohols as a sustainable energy source and the purification processes for dehydration of bioalcohols are very energy intensive. My projects in this area include developing cost-effective biomaterials for selective water adsorption from alcohol-water mixtures and optimizing the bioalcohol dehydration process in a packed-column with biosorbents.

Biosorption in wastewater treatment

I actively focus on the study of biosorption which targets on the industrial effluent treatment and metal recovery. Focus is on developing biosorbents with high uptake and controlled size, shape and stability.

Biosorption of biochemicals and drug delivery

My research also involves in biosorption of biochemicals such as proteins, amino acids and polysaccharides. The research targets on effective loading and controlled release of biochemicals of interest, particularly in drug delivery.

I have also collaborated on the projects on drug loading by nano-materials, tissue engineering and environment-responsive microgels.

I would be glad to work with students and research fellows who share the same research interests. There are Ph.D. and M.Sc. positions avaialble.