Government of Canada Honours Professor Philip Jessop with Polanyi Award

Ottawa, January 14, 2009 – The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Suzanne Fortier, President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) today awarded the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award to Queen’s University chemistry professor Philip Jessop. 

The award recognizes a recent outstanding advance in the natural sciences or engineering. 

Dr. Jessop and his research team have developed a new way to separate and re-use solvents commonly used in industrial processes such as refining oil or manufacturing pharmaceuticals. The revolutionary process makes it possible to “switch” the solvent’s properties on or off as needed. Separating solvents from the final manufactured product is currently a costly, waste-intensive process. 

As an added bonus, the process uses waste carbon dioxide as a trigger. In May, Dr. Jessop’s work was named by the Canadian Institute of Chemistry as one of the Top 20 Canadian discoveries in the past century.

“The Government of Canada is committed to investing in research and development that turn ideas into innovations and provide solutions to environmental challenges, while also strengthening the country’s economy,” said Minister Goodyear. “Dr. Jessop’s discoveries have helped transform carbon dioxide (CO2) from an environmental problem into part of the solution by putting it to work in reducing and preventing pollution at its source.”

“The most incredible thing about Dr. Jessop’s revolutionary process is that the key to its success is a substance that’s plentiful, non-toxic, and best of all, free,” added Dr. Fortier. “This discovery shows how investing in people and innovation can bring tangible solutions to pressing problems facing Canada and the world.”

Now that the concept is established, a commercialization team will help to make the process move from the lab to the market. The initial focus will be on areas where introducing the new process should be the easiest, such as oil refining, plastics and agriculture.

But Dr. Jessop sees many more possibilities for his discovery, which he feels can be integrated into any process that calls for a chemical to be used in one step and discarded in the next. “This will keep me busy for a while,” he comments.

NSERC is a federal agency whose vision is to help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians. The agency supports some 26,500 university students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 11,800 university professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 1,400 Canadian companies to participate and invest in university research projects.

For more information, contact: 

Hans Posthuma, Senior Writer
Tel.: 613-944-6243
E-mail: hans.posthuma@nserc-crsng.gc.ca