D. Grant Allen, is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto. He served as Vice-Dean (undergraduate) for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering from 2007-2011 before becoming Department Chair. He was President of the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering in 2008/09 and in 2019/20 serves as Chair of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Chemical Institute of Canada. He has led several environmental research consortia involving faculty and students from a range of disciplines and industrial partners from Canada and around the world (USA, Brazil, Japan, NZ). He spent his research leave in 1994 with Weyerhaeuser Co. in Tacoma WA, working on biofiltration of air pollutants from wood products emissions. In 2011, he spent a research leave at a SCION, a crown research organization in New Zealand, working with their green processing team on waste management in future biorefineries.
Professor Allen’s area of research interest is in bioprocess engineering, with particular application to the treatment of aqueous and gaseous emissions and utilizing wastes for energy and chemical production. He collaborates extensively with faculty with complementary expertise, including microbiology, algal biology, photonics, and energy/chemical recovery in pulp mills. His current research includes developing algal biofilm based processes to convert wastewater, carbon dioxide and light into value added products and the processing biosolids (e.g. dewatering, biobased polymers, anaerobic treatment) generated in aerobic biological treatment systems in the pulp and paper industry.