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Upcycling arsenic waste from mines could help fuel the green tech revolution

2026/09/102026/09/17

Researchers from UBC, Geological Survey of Denmark develop way to convert element from toxic form to metallic arsenic, an in-demand material for solar panels and EV batteries

Arsenic waste at closed mines is one of Canada’s largest and most expensive environmental liabilities, driven in large part by historic gold mining. At the Giant Mine site in Yellowknife, NWT, 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust is stored underground – a volume that would fill seven 10-story buildings or 9,480 dump trucks. The estimated cost for remediating the site is a whopping $4.4 billion CAD.

Canada isn’t alone in dealing with this potential threat to the environment and human health: Legacy arsenic mine waste is a global problem facing many other countries including Australia, France, and the US.Video: Upcycling arsenic waste

However, this liability is increasingly being viewed as a potential asset, with an altered form of the element – metallic arsenic – now classified as a critical mineral by several countries because of its importance for green technologies ranging from solar panels to EV batteries. Little surprise then that research teams from around the world are actively looking for ways to transform the material.

As part of an international collaboration, environmental engineers Tamara Etmannski from the University of British Columbia and Case van Genuchten at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland have developed a method for converting arsenic from its carcinogenic form into the sought-after form that could play a key role in society’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Read more on the CLS website

The big switch on: solar panels fully operational at Diamond

2024/07/152024/07/16

Recently installed solar panels that cover the entire roof of Diamond Light Source are now fully operational. Diamond’s roof covers an area of 32,000m2 which offers an exceptional opportunity to maximise energy efficiency through these panels.

The energy generated by the solar panels is an annual supply of 2.3GWh/y. This output amounts to around 5% of the facility’s total annual energy consumption and will mean yearly savings of some half a million pounds. This will additionally contribute to energy savings of more than £2M per year.

The installation was part of a larger roof maintenance project which presented the opportunity to install a 2.7MW solar panel array.

Since Diamond’s construction in 2005, the organisation has enhanced the efficiency of existing equipment and limited the amount of equipment needed to run without affecting machine operation. These steps are central to Diamond’s prioritisation of sustainability in all areas of the construction and operation of the facility. Areas of focus have been waste reduction, use of low-carbon electricity supply where possible and the introduction of photovoltaic panels.

From cannabis harvest to flexible solar panels

2024/01/162024/01/17

University of Ottawa researchers using CLS to develop next-gen electronic devices

Organic electronics – electronics where the active material is carbon-based – are making possible diverse new technologies ranging from sensors for monitoring cannabinoid levels in cannabis plants to lightweight, bendable solar panels. Real world applications would mean solar panels you roll up and take with you on your next camping trip, or cannabis producers knowing the optimal time to harvest plants.

Key to these advances is a class of substances called conductive polymers, which have good optical and mechanical properties but are cheaper to manufacture than conventional electronics, thanks to low energy requirements; they can be printed in long, thin sheets – like a newspaper – but don’t require the same high temperatures (> 1000° Celsius). Researchers from the University of Ottawa recently used the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan to study how different manufacturing processes can affect the performance of the resulting electronic devices.

“While these applications all sound really different, the reality they all have similar structures and need to be manufactured in similar ways,” explained Benoit Lessard, University of Ottawa professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Using the Brockhouse beamline at the CLS, Lessard and his team have been able to examine – at a microscopic level – how the carbon molecules behave during manufacturing. What they’re learning will have huge implications on how cutting-edge devices are manufactured, their size, flexibility, and electronic functionality. Their results are published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Read more on Canadian Light Source website

Credit: Mobile Solar Power, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons