This project was carried out in Varennes at the Energy Materials Telecommunications Research Centre..

Key words: chemistry, environment, climatic changes

The release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere contributes significantly to climate change. In addition to looking for ways to reduce the amount of CO₂ released, scientists are thinking of new techniques to capture the CO₂ that has already been released. However, this comes with drawbacks. If we simply store the captured CO₂, how can we be sure it will remain buried forever?

This is where the project begins. Rather than simply capturing and storing CO₂, the aim is to convert it into a new product: formic acid (CH₂O₂). Formic acid has several known commercial uses, making it an attractive by-product for the industry. We could therefore convince companies to clean up our atmosphere in order to obtain it. Not bad!

In order to convert CO2 into formic acid, we will use a technique called “electrochemical conversion”. This involves using electricity to promote the chemical reaction. Specifically, for this project, we are seeking to determine if an electrode made of lead can serve as a catalyst (reaction accelerator) to help us convert carbon dioxide into formic acid.

During their internship, the apprentice who carried out this project was able to work in a chemistry laboratory. Under a fume hood, they performed various manipulations to build the electrochemical cell needed for the experiment, then measured the amounts of formic acid obtained. Passionate about chemistry and taking care of the environment, this project was truly ideal for the young scientist! It was a wonderful first encounter with the field of electrochemistry.

This project was carried out in Varennes at the Energy Materials Telecommunications Research Centre..

Key words: physic, lasers, atoms, protons, material science, antiquity

If you want to find out what a certain material is made of without destroying it (think, for example, of an archaeological artifact, a work of art, a piece of evidence...), you have to be inventive! One way to do this is to use the properties of light. By observing the light emitted by an object, we can learn a lot about it. This is the general principle behind spectroscopy. It is thanks to spectroscopy, among other things, that we can study the atmospheres of exoplanets and stars and search for traces of extraterrestrial life

In the lab, this technique involves sending a laser beam (a very precise light containing only one color, also known as a wavelength) toward an object to be studied and observing the light re-emitted by the object. Since the light will interact with the material at the atomic level, its wavelength will be modified. By accurately measuring the light emitted by the object following the interaction, we obtain the “fingerprint” (spectrum) of our material, which we can then compare to those of other known materials in order to identify its precise composition at the atomic level.

For this project, we want to use this technique to study the wood of an antique violin in order to better understand what differentiates it from modern violins. At INRS, we work with a high-power laser that accelerates protons so that they collide with the wood sample, and we observe the light that is re-emitted, in this case X-rays. In this specific case, the technique is called PIXE (Particle Induced X-Ray Emission), but the concept remains the same: it is very high-energy spectroscopy! The same technique could be used to study ancient pottery or the concentrations of toxic elements in the air.

In practice, the apprentice was able to explore a high-power laser laboratory (the most powerful in Canada!), experiment with how to align a laser beam when you can't even see it, and learn more about the physics of elementary particles (protons, electrons...)

This project was carried out in Varennes at the Energy Materials Telecommunications Research Centre..

Key words: telecommuniations, optic fiber, light

The advent of fiber optics in telecommunications has increased the amount of information that can be transmitted and the speed at which it can be transmitted. After all, nothing travels faster than light! However, despite its many advantages, fiber optics also comes with various constraints to consider.

To name just one example, there is chromatic dispersion, which increasingly alters the signal as it travels through the fiber. A light signal can contain several colors, each of which travels at its own speed, slightly different from that of the other colors. It's a bit like a group of runners who are close together at the start of a race and who, as they move forward, drift apart because they don't all run at the same speed. If you take a photo of the runners at the start of the race and another at the end, their formation (the signal) will be completely different!

To use fiber optics, it is therefore important to understand the distortions that the signal can undergo as it travels inside the fiber, especially if you want to transmit it accurately to someone several kilometers away!

In this project, the apprentice-mentor duo sought to identify the various distortions that a signal undergoes when traveling inside an optical fiber. To do this, they sent a laser beam through several spools of optical fiber of different lengths and then analyzed the outgoing signal using various measuring instruments. By understanding these distortions, we will be able to find solutions that will improve fiber optic telecommunications.

This project was carried out in Varennes at the Energy Materials Telecommunications Research Centre..

Key words: energy, battery, recycling, environment, chemistry, circular economy

Today, we understand the importance of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Gasoline-powered vehicles are gradually being replaced by electric vehicles. This change in the right direction brings with it new problems that need to be addressed, including the exponential growth in demand for lithium batteries.

Lithium is a critical mineral, and its extraction is costly and energy-intensive, in addition to having a high environmental cost. It is therefore only natural that these batteries should be recycled after use, but this is a practice that still has room for improvement. Although recycling allows up to 96% of the battery's active components to be recovered, it generates a residue: leached black mass. This material is rich in graphite, an element necessary for the production of new batteries, and has high potential for recovery. To date, it remains under-exploited because there is no effective industrial solution for extracting and purifying it.

In this project, we wanted to compare the effectiveness of graphite extracted from leached black mass with that of commercial graphite. The hypothesis was that recycled graphite would yield sufficient results for it to be used in the creation of new batteries. In this way, we hope to recover electronic waste and encourage a circular economy in the energy sector.

The apprentice had the opportunity to prepare different samples from leached black mass and then analyze them using various measuring devices. They then assisted in the development of button cells created from the collected graphite and in testing the quality of the batteries created. It was a project filled with hands-on work in a multidisciplinary laboratory team, where chemists, physicists, and engineers work together to tackle issues related to energy, batteries, and the environment.

This project was carried out in Québec at the Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre.

Key words: artificial intelligence, drone, environment, North, caribou, informatics

Imagine you are a researcher and you want to study the effects of climate change on the habitat of caribou populations in northern Quebec. In the past, two methods have been favored for this type of research:

• Field studies (people go to the site): This offers a high degree of accuracy, but covers a limited area.

• Satellite image analysis: This covers a large area, but offers little precision.

Would you be able to invent a technique that offers the best of both worlds? A technique that is both precise and covers a large area?

In this research project, that is exactly what was done using drones and artificial intelligence! An artificial intelligence algorithm was trained to recognize the caribou's main food source: lichen using images of the Far North taken by drones. The goal is to quickly process a large number of images and create a map showing the concentration of lichen in the area to better understand the movements of caribou populations.

Compared to satellite images, drone images have the advantage of high resolution, allowing details such as lichen to be captured. The images used for this project were taken by the same research team during a field study in northern Quebec.

During their internship, the apprentice joined the team for a week. This allowed them to learn how artificial intelligence algorithms work and how they can be trained. A perfect project for someone passionate about the environment and computer science

This project was carried out in Québec at the Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre.

Key words: water sciences, health of rivers, insects, biology, ecology

How do we know if a river is healthy or unhealthy ? A good indicator is the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) that live there. These small creatures are insects, mollusks, worms, and crustaceans that live in our rivers.

Each BMI species has a specific lifespan and tolerance to pollution, which gives scientists an idea of a river's pollution level. For example, if a BMI species is very sensitive to pollution and is found on the bank of a river, then the water must be fairly pure there!

Thanks to these creatures, an INRS apprentice-mentor duo was able to study the health of the Beauport River near Quebec City. Equipped with waders and nets, the research team members visited four different sites along the river to capture the BMI present. Back in the lab, they sorted the captured individuals by taxon using a microscope and an illustrated identification key. This made it possible to conduct a census of the species present at the different sites and the number of individuals of each species. This allowed the apprentice-mentor duo to deduce how the health of the river varied depending on the site studied.

This project was carried out in Québec at the Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre.

Key words: chemistry, electricity, water pollution, environment

Before discharging wastewater into the environment, it must be decontaminated. The Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec (MELCCFP) determines the maximum threshold for each contaminant. However, it is becoming difficult for fruit and vegetable producers to comply with these thresholds using conventional treatments, as they are becoming increasingly strict.

To help them, a team at INRS is attempting to develop a new water decontamination technique based on electricity: electrocoagulation. In practical terms, metal electrodes are immersed in a container filled with wastewater (obtained after washing fruits and vegetables on vegetable farms), and an electric current is applied between them. This current causes the formation of substances capable of binding to contaminants in the water, thus forming larger and heavier clusters of particles. This is called coagulation. These clusters are then easier to remove from the water because, given a little time, they will settle to the bottom of the container and can simply be filtered out.

In this laboratory, the apprentice tested two different types of electrodes: iron electrodes and aluminum electrodes, in order to determine which ones were most effective at decontaminating wastewater from potato washing. Using various laboratory equipment (pH meter, conductivity meter, scale, etc.), the apprentice was able to measure the amount of contaminants in the water before treatment, perform electrocoagulation, and then measure the amount of contaminants remaining in the water again. Through this project, the apprentice was able to learn more about chemistry, wastewater decontamination, and electricity.

This project was carried out in Laval at the Armand Frappier Research Centre.

Key words: health, cancer, toxicology, endocrine disruptor, zebrafish

Did you know that approximately one in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime? If the cancer remains localized, the chances of survival are 99%, but when cells migrate throughout the body, those chances drop to 28%. Fortunately for women, not all breast cancers reach the metastatic stage before being detected and treated! Scientists at INRS are studying the factors that can promote the development of metastases. Among other things, one cause has been identified: endocrine disruptors. These are environmental pollutants that can interfere with the hormonal system.

In this project, the apprentice-mentor duo focused on one pollutant in particular: polybrominated diphenyl ethers, better known as PBDEs, given their tongue-twisting name! PBDEs are added to many products for their flame-retardant properties. Since we encounter them everywhere in our daily lives, they are also found in our bodies, in our tissues, in our blood, and even in breast milk. We already know that these molecules have the ability to interact with our hormones, including estrogen, but do they also play a role in the migration of cancer cells? That remains to be determined.

To do this, the team injected cancer cells into zebrafish and exposed them to PBDEs to measure whether the cancer cells migrated more in the presence of these pollutants. Because zebrafish have a very rapid life cycle and, believe it or not, share a fairly high percentage of genes common to humans, they are often used to study the functioning of various diseases and organs.

Over the course of a week, the apprentice researcher was able to develop their knowledge of breast cancer, the hormonal system, and endocrine disruptors, in addition to having the opportunity to work in a real health sciences research laboratory.