Research has always been my passion. I grew up with parents who were core advocates for education and continuous learning as they believed it was a great compass to navigate the world. At a very early age, I wanted to become many different things: – from a doctor, an accountant, to an engineer. As time went by, my fascination with converting raw materials to finished products and understanding the lifecycle of the by-products stood out the most.
A remarkable experience during my childhood was waking up on Saturday mornings to watch and assist my mother prepare corn meal (also known as pap in Nigeria). I was enthralled by the way she milled the corn, used the right amount of water and sieved in a chiffon cloth draped over a big bowl. The sieving process was phenomenal! She rinsed as required until only the chaff was left which was used to feed poultry. The suspension was left to settle for a few hours and the supernatant was decanted. This was my first introduction to chemical engineering (unit operations) and, by extension, environmental sustainability via recycling (the chaff!).
Growing up in the oil-rich city of Warri, Delta state, Nigeria, several environmental issues were staring at me: from gas flaring, oil spillage to mismanaged waste. Hence, I developed a strong yearning for a clean and sustainable environment.
Reflecting on my interests and passion, it was easy to conclude that I was at the intersection of chemical engineering and environmental engineering. Hence, I decided to study the former at university as the latter wasn’t offered at that time. With my father’s technical background, choosing to study engineering was seamless. With my parent’s support, I went on to study chemical engineering at university. Based on my academic performance, I was able to secure a prestigious fully funded scholarship from the Nigerian government (Presidential Special Scholarship for Innovation and Development, PRESSID) to pursue my master’s and doctoral degrees.
Throughout my career, I made deliberate efforts to explore practical solutions to environmental pollution (especially relating to water quality), as evidenced in my research activities. For example, my final year undergraduate research project showed that cheap activated carbon made from banana peels performed one order of magnitude better than commercial activated carbon for treating textile industry wastewater. My first internship at Chevron Nigeria Limited was also related to water quality where I was responsible for monitoring the water quality and operating the control systems of the water treatment and swimming pool treatment plants. My master’s research explored an alternative means to solve the increasing dilemma of safe and clean drinking water especially in arid and semi-arid regions. I designed an adsorption-based Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) which can produce 20 liters of water per day operating at 20oC and 35% relative humidity and could perform better under dry climatic conditions where conventional AWG’s would normally not work. My doctoral and postdoctoral research continued to address some of these environmental concerns specifically by attempting to bridge the knowledge gap about the risks associated with contaminant pollution in the environment.
My core expertise and current research interest lies in environmental pollution including multidisciplinary areas at the intersection of environmental nanotechnology, contaminant hydrogeology, colloid transport processes, water and wastewater treatment, and polymer science. I am particularly interested in the distribution, fate and transformations of emerging contaminants such as microplastics and nanoplastics in environmental systems. These include the role of environmental conditions on the transport of emerging contaminants in groundwater and surface waters, the role of microplastics in the transport of other contaminants, and the removal of emerging contaminants during wastewater treatment, amongst others.
Achieving a good work-life balance is my priority, and outside work going to the gym or exploring new sports and wellness activities keep me grounded. Although working in this field has sometimes been challenging, it has generally been both rewarding and exciting. In my role as an assistant professor, my goal is to contribute my quota to motivate, mentor, and empower the next generation.
Written by Dr. Olubukola Alimi
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering – Civil and Environmental Engineering Dept
IWA YWP Canada 