Overcoming microplastics induced inhibition on waste-to-energy conversion . This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to achieve stable and efficient mitigation of emerging microplastics induced inhibition that is becoming a key barrier hindering waste-to-energy conversion in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a low-cost technology widely used to divert sewage sludge to renewable energy production. However, the increasing levels of microplastics ....Overcoming microplastics induced inhibition on waste-to-energy conversion . This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to achieve stable and efficient mitigation of emerging microplastics induced inhibition that is becoming a key barrier hindering waste-to-energy conversion in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a low-cost technology widely used to divert sewage sludge to renewable energy production. However, the increasing levels of microplastics captured in sludge leads to low methane yield and process failure due to their small size and specific characteristics. The outcome of the project will remove the emerging barrier to enhance energy recovery that can be applied in existing anaerobic digestion infrastructure for addressing Australia’s increasing energy demand.Read moreRead less
Analytics to predict anaerobic codigestion & downstream process performance. This project aims to develop management approaches to enable the use of anaerobic co-digestion — the conversion of organic wastes and wastewater sludge to biogas for electricity production. Anaerobic co-digestion has the potential to bring significant economic savings to water stakeholders and environmental benefits to communities. However, full-scale deployment faces fundamental challenges in terms of managing impacts ....Analytics to predict anaerobic codigestion & downstream process performance. This project aims to develop management approaches to enable the use of anaerobic co-digestion — the conversion of organic wastes and wastewater sludge to biogas for electricity production. Anaerobic co-digestion has the potential to bring significant economic savings to water stakeholders and environmental benefits to communities. However, full-scale deployment faces fundamental challenges in terms of managing impacts on downstream processes (e.g. odour, dewaterability, biogas quality, and nutrient build-up). The analytical framework and analytics tool to be developed in this project by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in process engineering, biochemistry, analytical chemistry and analytics, is expected to enable water stakeholders to cost-effectively manage these impacts and thus realise the benefits of co-digestion.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100530
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$459,350.00
Summary
Directly Transforming Sewage Sludge into High-value Liquid Bioenergy. This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to gain renewable liquid bioenergy from sewage sludge and realise sludge reduction on an economical and safe platform, by directly transforming sewage sludge into high-value medium chain fatty acids, allowing for easy collection, storage and transportation. Wastewater treatment is generating an increasing quantity of carbon-rich sewage sludge, w ....Directly Transforming Sewage Sludge into High-value Liquid Bioenergy. This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to gain renewable liquid bioenergy from sewage sludge and realise sludge reduction on an economical and safe platform, by directly transforming sewage sludge into high-value medium chain fatty acids, allowing for easy collection, storage and transportation. Wastewater treatment is generating an increasing quantity of carbon-rich sewage sludge, which typically represents a substantial, but largely untapped, renewable resource. The intended outcome of the project will transform sewage sludge from a troublesome waste stream to a valuable resource that can be applied in existing sludge treatment infrastructure for addressing Australia’s increasing energy demand.Read moreRead less