Nanotechnology Research Conducted at Quebec’s Former Dow Brewery

INRS and Brasseurs de Montréal found ways to re-use spent grain from brewers as a carbon source to synthesize quantum dots.

This article is related to Canada’s food and beverage industries. Alfa Laval's Heat Transfer, Separation and Hygienic Fluid Handling products are used by brewers, pharmaceuticals manufacturers and food manufacturers across Canada.

 

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“…Professor Federico Rosei’s team at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has shown that microbrewery waste can be used as a carbon source to synthesize quantum dots. The work, done in collaboration with Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon of the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal RSC Advances.

 

Often considered as “artificial atoms,” quantum dots are used in the transmission of light. With a range of interesting physicochemical properties, this type of nanotechnology has been successfully used as a sensor in biomedicine or as LEDs in next generation displays. But there is a drawback: current quantum dots are produced with heavy and toxic metals like cadmium. Carbon is an interesting alternative, both for its biocompatibility and its accessibility…

…The advantage of using brewery waste as a source of carbon quantum dots is that it is naturally enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus. This avoids the need for pure chemicals...”

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