Leading us to a greener future

“Chemistry got us here, now chemistry will get us out – it is leading us into a stronger future.”

A recent announcement has positioned Queen’s University and the City of Kingston as leaders in the commercialization of chemical technologies that address complex sustainability challenges.

Reaction (RXN) Hub is a multi-million dollar chemtech commercialization hub to be located in Kingston. By supplying shared physical infrastructure and critical resources for innovators, the RXN HUB ecosystem initiative provides a fully supported go-to-market pathway for chemical technologies. The establishment of RXN HUB continues the momentum of Kingston's burgeoning cleantech ecosystem, leveraging its rich history and expertise in chemistry to support the growth of Canadian cleantech successes.

This global initiative aims to enhance domestic technology development, foster increased collaboration within the national cleantech ecosystem, and contribute to the creation and retention of Canadian jobs within the green economy.

Queen’s Chemistry Alumni Dr. Morgan Lehtinen BSc’16 PhD’22, RXN HUB’s Director of Commercialization, announced the opening of the facility at the event held in Grant Hall alongside RXN HUB’s Executive Director, Sebastian Alamillo-Falkenberg.

“Together RXN HUB, alongside our 13 founding partner organizations (including Queen’s) and broader ecosystem could not be more excited to be pushing our cumulative vision to make Kingston the place for chemical commercialization to solve our planets biggest challenges, support the prosperity and sustainability of our region and ultimately the do same for Canada,” Dr. Lehtinen says.

There are three main focuses of the RXN HUB:

• Ecosystem engagements and networks – RXN HUB coordinates the resources of the ecosystem to execute large initiatives, conduct new research, support fundraising activities and facilitate engagements.
• Piloting and scale-up – RXN HUB supports the pilot projects of chemical technologies by supplying access to shared infrastructure and hands-on scale-up support.
• Deeptech and sustainability consulting – RXN HUB leverages direct relationships, deep technical expertise, and decades of experience to help clients navigate a path through complex innovations.

“RXN HUB has been created by this ecosystem for this ecosystem,” Dr. Lehtinen adds. “It’s an organization that enables the commercialization of chemical technologies to solve complex sustainability issues through access to critical physical infrastructure and scale up resources.”

After the formal event in Grant Hall, a career fair and speaker series were held in Goodes Hall to gather leaders across the regional and national cleantech ecosystem to discuss collaborative strategies to reach net-zero. Several local chemtech businesses gathered to meet other entrepreneurs working in similar fields and they were also on the look out for new talent.

Osayuki Osazuwa is the CEO of Jeosal Materials Research Corporation, a Kingston based laboratory working in conjunction with Queen’s, that is making advances in the areas of economically viable recycling processes for fibre reinforced plastics.

Dr. Osazuwa, who earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s, adds they are also working to find realistic and affordable methods to recycle glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) but to also find economically viable uses for the recycled matter. GFRP is used in boat building and the Government of Canada estimates that more than 43,000 fiberglass vessels reach the end of their life cycle every year. These products do not decompose and are becoming a serious issue in Canada’s overall plastic disposal strategy.

Current research projects include the recycling of composite waste such as decommissioned wind turbine blades, fiberglass boat hulls, and waste from glass and carbon fiber composite production. The recycled products are converted into adsorbent carbon materials for water/wastewater treatment. Jeosal recently won the Foresight Canada Low Energy Water Treatment Technology Challenge, seeking low-energy solutions for the treatment of dissolved organic compounds present in Oil Sands Process Water (OSPW) at oil sands mining operations. The adsorbent material has been deployed for treating real OSPW in Alberta.

“I’m here at the event today to gain contacts and learn more about what the RXN HUB can do for my company,” he explains. “We do currently lease space but it’s expensive so this new space will be a perfect space to continue to build our company. I also like that I will be working with other talented researchers in a space where we can share our ideas.”

Spectra Plasmonics was founded by a team of scientists and engineers at Queen’s University. The core technology in Amplifi ID was backed by years of PhD research with the aim of creating a device that enables cost-effective, high-quality chemical analysis without complex lab steps.

The company has worked with dozens of people combatting North America’s drug overdose crisis to help create the optimal high performing drug checking solution for the front line.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Eade, who is also a RXN HUB board member, attended the job fair and talked about how important having a resource like RXN HUB is in Kingston.

“After creating a startup, it’s hard to find investors willing to invest in your product,” Eade says. “So many ideas die on the benchtop because even though you have a unique and interesting idea, it’s very expensive to create a prototype to attract investors. And, truly the most important thing the Hub can provide, is creating a network, a think tank of researchers and advisors that provide their expertise.”

To learn more about the RXN HUB and its partners, visit the website.