Satinder K. Brar

Research Interests

Dr. Satinder Kaur Brar's research interests include:

• Value-Addition of Wastes: Developing bioproducts such as biofertilizers, biopesticides, and biofuels from municipal and industrial wastewaters and sludges through fermentation technologies.
• Emerging Contaminants: Investigating the fate, transport, and removal of emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, microplastics, endocrine disruptors, and perfluoro compounds in water and wastewater treatment plants.
• Innovative Treatment Technologies: Utilizing physical, chemical, and biological treatment technologies for environmental remediation.
• Interdisciplinary Water Research: Leading initiatives at the One WATER Institute, focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations to address global water sustainability challenges, including the formation of the UN Global Water Academy.

Most Significant Contributions to Research

1) Enzyme Booster Technology for bioremediation of conventional and unconventional oils

Between 0.47 to 8.4 million tonnes of oil are released into the environment, causing adverse impacts. Our research group has been focusing on the production of enzymes that are stable and adapted to cold to degrade conventional and unconventional oils (in soils, surface, and groundwaters) with efficiency reaching up to 80% (SKB1,2,49,11,12,25,32). The method is cleaner (no innocuous products), greener (reuses crude motor oil), and leaner (low cost, efficacy per unit treated site).

· TechnoRem Inc. is actively using this enzyme remediation approach and has replaced conventional tools.

2) Goldmine of Enzymes and other high-value products from agricultural residues

Food and beverage processing industry is the largest of all manufacturing industries in Canada and produces almost 30% of its input as residuals which mostly end up in the landfills, needing second life and value. This research accomplished innovative and integrated value-addition of pomace disposed as a solid waste and the clarification sludge in an integrated approach to produce ligninolytic enzymes (SKB39,46,47); citric acid (SKB27); extract polyphenols; and serve as animal feed (SKB 19,22) by using a white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium. In fact, Lassonde Inc. (the largest fruit juice Canadian company) has offered its support for adopting this valorization approach.

· Led to a 2021 best paper award, a 2019 Eddy Wastewater Principles/Processes Medal (awarded by Water Environment Federation), and a 2019 Save The Environment award for its impact in the field.

3) Tackling Emerging contaminants by advanced green enzyme oxidation methods

Presence of emerging contaminants in wastewater and wastewater sludge has been plaguing the overall treatment process efficiency. The research proved that use of various pre-treatment options, such as hydrolysis and Fenton oxidation and enzymes immobilized in the crude form efficiently treated the model emerging contaminants, bisphenol-A (BPA), antibiotics and plasticizer (DEHP) (SKB5,10,16). Chlortetracycline (CTC) can form stable metal complexes with a wide range of metals. There is low solubility of CTC-metal complex compared to CTC and high adsorption and complexation can lead to CTC retention in wastewater sludge (WWS). These studies proved that antibiotics cannot be taken into consideration just as sole entities. Hence, future treatment technologies must not envisage just antibiotics, but as metal complexes as they can have higher stability as compared to antibiotic alone leading to antibiotic resistance. Likewise, the recent trend has been value-addition of wastewater sludge and initial research on simultaneous degradation of BPA and many pharmaceuticals has yielded new and original research direction (SKB 20,21,23,24,26,27,35,36,38) in terms of simultaneous decontamination of the residuals during their value-addition.

· An active collaboration has been developed with Quebec municipality, H2O Innovation, Magnus Chemicals Inc. and Phytronix Inc. via strategic research in this field.

· 2017 Grand Prize in University Research for excellence in environmental engineering by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists and the 2017 ASCE State-of-the-Art Engineering award for original contribution and research.

4) Crude glycerol to fuel batteries

Biodiesel is one of the mostly studied and commercially available renewable fuels. During biodiesel production by transesterification of lipids (e.g. vegetable oils, animal fats and algal lipids), crude glycerol (CG) is generated as a by-product; around 10% by weight of the product and a low-cost entity at $ 0.05/pound. Additionally, cost effective and sustainable disposal of CG containing methanol, salt and other impurities is a challenge for biodiesel manufacturers. Monoculture and co-culture techniques were used to obtain hydrogen using fermentation. Hydrogen can be harvested directly from the fermented broths, and used in hydrogen fuel cells, which convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, with co-generation of electricity. Alternatively, the released hydrogen can be burned to make energy. Centre de recherche Industrielle du Québec is an active partner in this research project and further collaboration with industry is envisaged.

· Led to two patents submitted in US and Canada.

Selected Publications

• *Jean Viccari Pereira, Carlos Osorio Gonzalez, Saba Miri, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Petroleum hydrocarbons bioremediation by halotolerant enzymes - Progress & Advances. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering(accepted). IF: 7.96
• *Xuhan Shu, Rama Pulicharla,Pratik Kumar, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Comparison between chemical and biological degradation processes for perfluorooctanoic acid. Soil Systems (accepted). IF: 3.5
• *Diego A. Hernandez Ospina, Carlos S. Osorio-González, Saba Miri, and Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Challenges and new perspective on the anaerobic biodegradation pathways of BTEX: A review. Journal of Hazardous Materials. IF: 14.2
• *Maryam Chekili, Selma Etteieb, Satinder Kaur Brar, Jean-François Blais (2023). Assessing of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and their environmental risk in a lake in North Quebec. Environmental Research(accepted). IF: 8.4
• *Noha Hasaneen, Shiva Akhtarian, Rama Pulicharla, Pouya Rezai, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Surface molecularly imprinted polymer-based sensors for antibiotic detection. Trends in Analytical Chemistry (accepted). IF: 14.9
• *Mohammad Hossein Karimi Darvanjooghi, Usman T. Khan, Sara Magdouli, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Biooxidation of refractory sulfide-bearing ore using Feroplasma acidophilum: Experimental data and machine learning approach. Current Research in Biotechnology (accepted). IF: 5.6
• *Mohammad Hossein Karimi Darvanjooghi, Sara Magdouli, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Recent challenges in biological cyanidation and oxidation of sulfide-based refractory gold ore. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology (accepted). IF: 4.0
• *Pratishtha Khurana, Rama Pulicharla, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Imipenem-metal complexes: Computational analysis and toxicity studies with wastewater model microorganisms. Environmental Research(accepted). IF: 8.4
• *Rahul Saini, Bikash R. Tiwari,Pedro Brancoli, Mohammad Taherzadeh and Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Rhodosporidium toruloides-1588 based oil production using wood hydrolysate and crude glycerol: An environmental assessment. Bioresource Technology.IF: 10.89
• *Gurpreet Kaur, Joanna Lecka, Magdalena Krol, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Novel BTEX-degrading strains from subsurface soil: isolation, identification and growth evaluation. Environmental Pollution 335,122303. IF: 9.98
• *Pawan Kumar,Azadeh Kermanshahi-Pour, Satinder K Brar, Quan Sophia He, Jan K. Rainey (2023). Influence of elevated pressure and supercritical carbon dioxide on enzyme microenvironment and activity. Biotechnology Advances 68(1),108219. IF : 10.74
• *Bikash Ranjan Tiwari, Satinder Kaur Brar, Rao Y.  (2023). Enhancing thermophilic anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge: An investigation. Journal of Water Process Engineering 56, 104293. IF: 7
• *Gustavo Amaro Bittencourt; Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe; Walter José Martínez-Burgos; Kim Kley Valladares-Diestra; Ariane Fátima Murawski de Mello; Bruna Leal Maske; Satinder Kaur Brar; Sunita Varjani; Carlos Ricardo Soccol (2023). Enzyme-based processes for emerging contaminants biodegradation during wastewater treatment – a review. iScience (Cell Press) 26(6),106785. IF : 6.2
• *Behnam Nayebi, Pratishtha Khurana, Rama Pulicharla, Shooka Karimpour, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Preservation, storage, and sample preparation methods for freshwater microplastics – a comprehensive review. Environmental Advances 2, 1060-1081. IF : 3.6
• *Tiwari, Bikash Ranjan; Bhar, Rajarshi;Dubey, Brajesh Kumar; Maity, Sunil; Kaur Brar, Satinder; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Kumar, Vinod (2023). Life cycle assessment of microbial 2,3-butanediol production from brewer’s spent grain modelled on pinch technology. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 11(22), 8271–8280. IF : 9.2
• *Shikha Singh, Sumit Sharma, Saurabh Jyoti Sarma, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Molecular characterization of a new strain of Aspergillus and ricinoleic acid production from castor oil by the fungus. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy 42 (5), e14172. IF : 5.1
• *Bikash Ranjan Tiwari, Joanna Lecka, Rama Pulicharla, Satinder Kaur Brar (2023). Microplastic pollution and associated health hazards: Impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health 34, 100480.
• *Joshua Moyal, Preeti H. Dave, Mengjie Wu, Shooka Karimpour, Satinder K. Brar, Huan Zhong, Raymond W. M. Kwong (2023). Impacts of biofilm formation on the physicochemical properties and toxicity of microplastics: a concise review. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 261:8. IF : 7.6
• *Tayssir Kadri, *Saba Miri, *Thomas Robert, Satinder Kaur Brar, Tarek Rouissi, Vinayak L. Pachapur, Jean-Marc Lauzon(2022). Pilot-scale production and in-situ application of petroleum-degrading enzyme cocktail from Alcanivorax borkumensis. Chemosphere 295,133840. IF: 7
• *Saba Miri, *Seyyed M. Davoodi, Thomas Robert, Satinder Kaur Brar, Richard Martel, Tarek Rouissi (2022). Enzymatic biodegradation of highly p-xylene contaminated soil using cold-active enzymes: A soil column study. Journal of Hazardous Materials 423, Part A, 5, 127099. IF: 9
• *Kamalpreet K. Brar, *Selma Etteieb, Laura Calugru, Sara Magdouli, Satinder K. Brar (2022). Novel approach for the management of acid mine drainage (AMD) for the recovery of heavy metals along with lipid production by Chlorella vulgaris. Journal of Environmental Management 308, 114507. IF: 2.6
• *Saba Miri, *Azadeh Rasooli, Satinder K. Brar, T. Rouissi, R. Martel (2022). Biodegradation of p-xylene-a comparison of three psychrophilic Pseudomonas strains through the lens of gene expression. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 29(15), 21465-21479. IF: 4.2
• *Pratishtha Khurana, *Noha Hasaneen, *Rama Pulicharla, Guneet Kaur, Satinder Kaur Brar (2022). Co-transport of PFCs in the environment- An interactive story. Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 5, 100302.
• *Karen V. Domínguez; *Beatriz D. Cano, Alain Wilkin, Satinder K. Brar, Michèle Heitz, A. A. Ramirez (2022). Study of adsorption interactions between nitrous oxide and Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8) by molecular modeling. Catalysis Today 388-389, 141-146. IF: 5.8
• *Daniel Gerrior, Mathew J. Eckelman, Satinder Kaur Brar, Azadeh Kermanshahi pour (2022). Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-economic Analysis of a Novel Closed Loop Corn Ethanol Biorefinery. Sustainable Production and Consumption 30, 359-376. IF: 5.0
• *Joseph Sebastian, Satinder Kaur Brar, Tarek Rouissi (2022). Miscanthus sp. – a perennial lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock for greener fumaric acid bioproduction. Industrial Crops & Products 175, 114248. IF: 5.6
• *Rahul Saini, *Carlos Saul Osorio-Gonzalez, *Krishnamoorthy Hegde,Satinder Kaur Brar, Pierre Vezina (2022). Investigating the ability of Rhodosporidium toruloides-1588 to use furfural as a carbon source and its degradation: An enzyme identification study. Sustainable Energy & Fuels 6, 4331-4337. IF: 6.36
• *Rahul Saini, *Carlos Saul Osorio-Gonzalez, *Krishnamoorthy Hegde,Satinder Kaur Brar, Pierre Vezina (2022). A co-fermentation strategy with wood hydrolysate and crude glycerol to enhance the lipid accumulation in Rhodosporidium toruloides-1588. Bioresource Technology 364, 127821. IF: 9.642
• *Vinayak Laxman Pachapur, *Mariana Valdez Castillo,Satinder Kaur Brar, Yann Le Bihan (2022). Integrated biorefinery approach for utilization of wood waste into levulinic acid and 2-Phenylethanol production using mild treatment conditions. Bioresource Technology (accepted). IF: 9.6
• *Reema, *Rajat Kumar,Satinder K. Brar, and Guneet Kaur (2022). Next generation -omics approaches to drive carboxylate production by acidogenic fermentation of food waste: A Review. Bioengineered. IF: 3.269

Recent Awards

York Research Leader 2021 - York University

Recognized for research excellence and merit.

2021 Elected member - Technical and Environmental Sciences of the Academia

Scientiarium et Artium Europaea, European Academy of Sciences and Arts - European Academy of Sciences and Arts

For Research excellence; exceptional standing in society as a result of work performed, publications, or for comparable reasons.

2021 Best Student Thesis Award - INRS

Thesis on biofilters for decontamination of water.

2021 Lassonde Innovation Award - Established Researcher - York University

The award recognizes our international leaders at Lassonde and your successful

nomination is clearly a reflection of your outstanding achievements and dedication to excellence in research.

Best Theoretical-Oriented Paper by EWRI - ASCE

“Simple Technoeconomic Approach to Chlortetracycline Removal from Wastewater Treatment Plant,” Kumar, Pratik; Pulicharla, Rama; Brar, Satinder Kaur; and Kermanshahi-pour, Azadeh; and Surampalli, R.Y. Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioact. Waste 23(3), 04019007 (2019).

York Research Leader for 2019 - York University

Exemplified the best of research leadership at York.

STE International Achiever Award, 2019 - Save the Environment Society (STE)

For distinguished work in the fields of Environmental Sustainability and Application of Green Chemistry as Ecological Alternatives to Chemical Antibiotics, bestowed for the social impact.

WEF founded Eddy Wastewater Principles/Processes Medal - Water Environment Federation (WEF)

The Eddy Medal honors Harrison Prescott Eddy, a prominent engineer and a pioneer in the field of wastewater treatment. The medal is awarded for research that makes a vital contribution to the existing knowledge of the fundamental principles or process of wastewater treatment, as comprehensively described and published in a federation periodical.

Links to profile

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6633-4247

Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7004923133

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=y1nhXRoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao