We are excited to have Ophela Zhang in our team as a co-op student with expertise in process engineering and life cycle assessment. A graduate of Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Ophela is currently pursuing a Master of Engineering’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto.

During her undergraduate study, Ophela went on an internship at MINIWIZ in Taiwan where she provided research and design support to a number of company’s projects focused on upcycling waste streams to consumer goods and construction materials. In addition, she gained research experience in process improvement of biofuels production from wood chips as well as microalgae by assisting and leading a couple of projects at UBC. As her capstone undergraduate project, she co-designed a biorefinery process for production of Polylactic Acid (PLA) plastic form sugarcane bagasse.

Ophela will support 5REDO with the development of an integrated approach to environmental assessment of products and processes by combining life cycle assessment methods and circular economy indicators.