Prof. Dr. Ing. Bohumil Volesky

Contact Points:

• Phone: MONTREAL, permanent line: 450-671.7534
• MONTREAL cell  (functioning periodically): 514-502-5388
               
• Phone: NAPLES, FLORIDA
                permanent line (~October-March): 239-592.6920
               FLORIDA cell (~October-March): 239-595.2833
• e-mail:  boya.volesky@mcgill.ca
• Mailing Address: 

Academic Degrees:

• Ph.D. Biochemical Engineering

University of Western Ontario, LONDON, Ontario, Canada, 1971 
• Ing. (M.Eng.) Mechanical Engineering, Food Engineering

Czech Tech University, PRAGUE, Czech Republic, 1962 

Visiting Professor:

• EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, SWITZERLAND
• UFMG Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, BRAZIL
• RMIT Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,  AUSTRALIA
• University of Queensland, Brisbane,  AUSTRALIA
• University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PUERTO RICO
• POSTECH, Pohang University of Science & Technology, KOREA
• Nankai University, Tianjin,  P.R. CHINA
• Sichuan Union University, Chengdu,  P.R. CHINA

Experience and Interests

WATER POLLUTION - Impacts, Control and Remediation

 Solid and multidisciplinary background in Chemical Engineering and Sciences (Microbiology, Biochemistry, Ecology), together with years of experience, enables making a contribution in a broad field of Water Pollution. Based on this background are broadly based specialty consultation activities, including:
 

• Assessment and behavior of special water bodies such as estuaries, wetlands, rivers and lakes.
• Detoxification of wastewaters and removal of specific toxic components (organics, inorganics, metals).
• Feasibility and model studies of water decontamination.
• Environmental impact and wastewater treatment for large-scale industrial operations such as mining, chemical and metal processing, power generation, etc.
• Impact assessment of hydrocarbon recovery (e.g. tar sand exploitation, crude oil drilling and recovery).
• Hydrocarbon processing (refining) and its water pollution impacts.
• Design, configuration and troubleshooting of water-treatment plants - particularly industrial ones.
• Physical and chemical wastewater treatment operations and their combinations.

BIOSORPTION of heavy metals and development of new biosorbents:

 My biochemical engineering interests are focused on the area of environmental biotechnology. Our unique discoveries of metal sorbing properties of certain types of biomass open opportunities in the development of new (bio)sorption technology for purification of industrial effluents and metal recovery. Research in this area is interdisciplinary and spans a broad choice of diversified projects from process engineering and optimization to molecular modeling. Activities include project development, research proposal composition including budgetary estimations, project (co-)supervision, piloting and start-up advising.

Examples of Biosorption Project Activities :

Development of new biosorption materials:
• Examining biomass types for metal sorption properties: 

    uptake of toxic metals, precious metals, radionuclides, etc.
• Study of the biosorption metal-binding mechanisms:

    ion exchange studies, chelation, microprecipitation, etc.
• Mathematical and molecular computer modeling and metal-binding simulation.
• Processing, pre-treatment and formulation of new biosorbent materials. 

Biosorption process development and optimization:
• Application of sorption principles in the (metal) biosorption process. 
• Sorption reactor configuration and performance optimization. 
• Desorption process with biosorbent regeneration and metal recovery. 
• Process modeling and simulation, scale-up studies. 
• Purification of metal-bearing industrial effluents. 
• Biosorption performance assessment for multi-metal mixtures.

  Biochemical Engineering: 

FERMENTATION process optimization research activity in the past has eventually evolved into the above activities due to their innovative nature and high relevance. 

Research Group (Some Former Staff & Students & Collaborators) 

Publications