McGill BioDesign
AeroCellutions team members at the 2026 Biodesign Challenge Summit
AeroCellutions

Project

AeroCellutions

2025 / 2026

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About

The work, in plain language.

AeroCellutions is a multidisciplinary McGill BioDesign team developing a biodegradable sorbent for cleaning up oil spills. The material is made from cellulose and coated with dodecenyl succinic anhydride, offering a more environmentally responsible alternative to conventional plastic-based absorbents.

The project was developed by 22 undergraduate students in Professor Theo van de Ven's Chemistry laboratory. During the 2026 Biodesign Challenge Summit, the team demonstrated the material using heavy motor oil recovered from a real spill in Montreal and supplied by Urgence Marine Environnement.

AeroCellutions earned second place at the 2026 Biodesign Challenge Summit in New York City, competing alongside 48 university and secondary-school teams from around the world.

Background

As long as fossil fuels are being used, oil spills will remain a major hazard to the health of marine ecosystems. Oil spills negatively impact both the environment and the surrounding communities, and in 2021, Canada reported 17,651 litres in marine oil spills alone [1]. Sorption of oil is considered the most effective solution, but studies have shown that after 5 days, 50% of spilled oil becomes oxidized by sunlight and the efficiency of sorption reduces by 30%, extending the clean-up time and expanding the negative impact of spilled oil [2].

Original project solution

Cellulose aerogels are an emerging field of biomaterial research due to their porous, low-density, flexible nature [3]. The team's focus is to develop an oil-absorbing cellulose aerogel from recycled paper, using chemicals that are environmentally friendly and sourced from industrial waste. Scalability is considered at every step of the research because the goal is to present a solution that can be implemented globally.

Project archive

Images from the original project page.

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Carolyn Denton, Oil Spill Remediation project co-lead.

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What we did

Bench-tested, presented, shipped.

  • Developed and tested a biodegradable cellulose sorbent coated with dodecenyl succinic anhydride.
  • Demonstrated the material using heavy motor oil recovered from a real Montreal oil spill.
  • Earned second place at the 2026 Biodesign Challenge Summit among 48 competing teams.

References

Sources behind the project.

  1. [1] "Marine oil spills," Canada.ca, 2024.

    Read the Canada.ca source

  2. [2] Collin P. Ward, Cassia J. Armstrong, Robyn N. Conmy, Deborah P. French-McCay, and Christopher M. Reddy, "Photochemical Oxidation of Oil Reduced the Effectiveness of Aerial Dispersants Applied in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill," Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2018, 5 (5), 226-231.

    Open DOI 10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00084

  3. [3] Son T. Nguyen, Jingduo Feng, Nhat T. Le, Ai T. T. Le, Nguyen Hoang, Vincent B. C. Tan, and Hai M. Duong, "Cellulose Aerogel from Paper Waste for Crude Oil Spill Cleaning," Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2013, 52 (51), 18386-18391.

    Open DOI 10.1021/ie4032567

Team

Led by.

Every project starts with a lead who carries it from idea to build. Want to lead the next one?

LeadCassidy DevereauxLeadCarolyn Denton
Join the teamGet in touch

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