To achieve the ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, Canada has identified hydrogen as a key fuel source. Complementary to, and in step with federal and provincial efforts, research into green hydrogen production and utilization is growing at Dalhousie University. Areas of interest range from hydrogen production, utilization, combustion, as well as socio-economic impacts likely to be created in this next wave of low-carbon energy development. The hydrogen cluster is a growing focus within the broader sustainable energy theme supported by Dalhousie’s Clean Technologies Research Institute (CTRI), and members of the cluster are involved in major funding initiatives. The goal of the cluster is to bring together researchers, industry partners, NGOs, and government to establish R&D in Atlantic Canada to generate green hydrogen for export and local use.
Co-Leads
Mita Dasog, Chemistry
Research Interests: Earth abundant catalysts for hydrogen generation; Photoelectrode materials for direct conversion of light to hydrogen; On demand chemical hydrogen production
Themes: Production; Storage
Members
Research Interests: Membranes and electrolyzer designs for hydrogen generation; Silicon photoelectrode materials; Earth abundant catalysts for hydrogen generation
Themes: Production; Storage
Partners
Michelle Adams, School for Resource & Environmental Studies
Research Interests: Renewable energy transition pathways for both communities and industrial operations (e.g. ports and industrial complexes); the integration of circularity into clean technology design considerations, with a focus on critical mineral recovery and reuse; and the investigation of the role of H2 as a system-changing clean fuel for baseload energy generation, and for marine transportation.
Themes: Environmental considerations; Social impact and adaptation; Supply chain; Industrial applications and utilization
Hamid Afshari, Industrial Engineering
Research Interests: Hydrogen in supply chain and sustainability
Themes: Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations
Paul Amyotte, Process Engineering & Applied Science
Research Interests: Process safety; Inherently safer design; Fire and explosion risk reduction
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization
Stanley Asah, School for Resource & Environmental Studies
Research Interests: Adoption, diffusion and social acceptance of new energy technologies including hydrogen; Socio-technical/energy/hydrogen system configurations; Scenario analyses of socio-technical transitions
Themes: Production; Storage; Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations; Law and policy
Khaled Benis, Process Engineering and Applied Science
Research Interests: Water and wastewater treatment; Waste valorization; Hydrogen generation from wastewater; Hydrogen production from biomass
Themes: Production; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Environmental considerations; Storage
Saurabh Chitnis, Chemistry
Research Interests: Redox-active main group centres; Lewis superacids; Inorganic polymers and clusters
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization; Storage
Alexander Engau, Rowe School of Business
Research Interests: Development of optimization-based models to support and analyze decisions with respect to tradeoffs, risks and uncertainties; Logistics, transportation and supply chain management; Managerial economics, engineering and finance; Classification and learning in data science and analytics
Themes: Supply chain; Technoeconomics; Environmental considerations; Social impact and adaptation; Industrial applications and utilization
Karen Foster, Sociology & Social Anthropology
Research Interests: Rural economic development; Rural sociology; Work and employment in rural communities; Perceptions of environmental change
Themes: Social impact and adaptation
Graham Gagnon, Civil & Resource Engineering
Research Interests: Wastewater disposal and management; Water treatment; Water relations and stewardship with Indigenous communities and Atlantic First Nation Water Authority
Themes: Production; Industrial applications and utilization; Supply chain; Technoeconomics; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations; Law and policy; Storage; Transport
Floris Goerlandt, Industrial Engineering
Research Interests: Risk assessment and management; Safety engineering; Marine industries
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization
Dominic Groulx, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Energy systems; Energy storage; Thermal engineering and thermal management systems; Fluid flow
Themes: Production; Storage; Industrial applications and utilization; Supply chain
Ahsan Habib, Planning
Research Interests: Techno-economic analysis; Data collection and transport modelling; Travel surveys; Travel demand forecasting; Integrated urban systems modelling; Scenario and policy analysis
Themes: Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations
Israat Haque, Computer Science
Research Interests: Network design and optimization; Software Defined Networking; Internet of Things; Cyber Physical System
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization
Quan Sophia He, Engineering – Agricultural
Research Interests: Photocatalytic hydrogen generation; Hydrothermal generation of hydrogen/methane mixtures (hythane); Biomaterials for hydrogen storage
Themes: Production; Storage; Industrial applications and utilization
Rob Jamieson, Civil & Resource Engineering
Research Interests: Wastewater disposal and management; Water relations and stewardship with Indigenous communities and Atlantic First Nation Water Authority
Themes: Environmental considerations
Azadeh Kermanshahi-pour, Process Engineering & Applied Science
Research Interests: Biorefining for hydrogen generation; Arrested methanogenesis for hydrogen production
Themes: Production; Environmental considerations; Technoeconomics
Barret Kurylyk, Civil & Resource Engineering
Research Interests: Coastal resources management; Water relations and stewardship with Indigenous communities and Atlantic First Nation Water Authority
Themes: Environmental considerations
Evangelos Milios, Computer Science
Research Interests: Machine learning; Text mining; Both are cross-cutting research that, applicable to any of the Themes listed
Themes: Production; Storage; Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations; Law and policy
Sonil Nanda, Engineering - Agriculture
Research Interests: Hydrothermal generation of hydrogen/methane mixtures (hythane)
Themes: Production
Michael Pegg, Process Engineering & Applied Science
Research Interests: Hydrogen-enhanced natural gas; Burner design and certification
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization
Ahmed Saif, Industrial Engineering
Research Interests: Sustainable energy supplies; Hybrid renewable energy systems
Themes: Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Technoeconomics
Sara Seck, Schulich School of Law
Research Interests: Sustianable Development and Natural Resources Law
Themes: Law and policy;Environmental considerations; Social impact and adaptation; Supply chain
Gurpreet Selopal, Engineering – Agriculture
Research Interests: Nanomaterials and photovoltaics for hydrogen generation
Themes: Production; Industrial applications and utilization; Environmental considerations; Social impact and adaptation
Tushar Sharma, Computer Science
Research Interests: Software engineering; Applied machine learning for software engineering; Software maintenance and evolution; Software code quality and refactoring; Mining software repositories
Themes: Industrial applications and utilization; Environmental considerations
Kate Sherren, School for Resource & Environmental Studies
Research Interests: Social and landscape implications of renewable energy; Landscape values and perceptions; Social impact assessment; Social acceptance of public good/climate-driven landscape transitions; Environmental communication; Visual methods; Big Data
Themes: Social impact and adaptation
Stanislav Sokolenko, Process Engineering and Applied Science
Research Interests: Cell culture; data analysis; modelling; process monitoring
Themes: Production
Lauren Somers, Civil & Resource Engineering
Research Interests: Water resources sustainability, hydrology, environmental impacts
Themes: Environmental considerations
Amina Stoddart, Civil & Resource Engineering
Research Interests: Wastewater disposal and management; Water treatment
Themes: Environmental considerations; Production
Lukas Swan, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Large-scale energy storage modeling for capacity purposes; Timeseries generation vs H2 production modeling for energy efficiency and productivity and grid integration purposes; Offshore wind modeling for H2 production
Themes: Production
M. Ali Ülkü, Rowe School of Business, CRSSCA
Research Interests: Circular and sustainable supply chain and logistics systems,; Analysis of manufacturing/retailing and service operations; Analytical modelling of sustainable consumption and development
Themes: Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Technoeconomics; Supply chain
Chad Walker, Planning
Research Interests: Analysis of planning and development models;Llocal and regional socio-economic outcomes, including public support and social acceptance; Renewable/community energy; Indigenous involvement and leadership in clean energy; Truth and Reconciliation; Energy justice and equity
Themes: Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerations; Law and policy
Peng Zhang, Chemistry
Research Interests: New nanostructured catalysts for hydrogen generation
Themes: Production
Nur Zincir-Heywood, Computer Science
Research Interests: Cyber security and resilience; Autonomous cyber operations, threat analysis and detection; Machine learning and data analysis; Computer communications and networks
Themes: Production; Storage; Transport; Industrial applications and utilization; Supply chain; Social impact and adaptation; Environmental considerationslandscapes