Vaporization of heavier gas oil in Fluid Catalytic Cracking risers. Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) is an important refinery operation responsible for about 45 per cent of the total petrol produced. The project is aimed at improving production efficiency of Australian refineries by applying fundamental modelling to the FCC. The outcomes will enable refiners to produce cleaner fuel and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Novel gas-liquid columns for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. Novel gas-liquid columns for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. This project aims to design distillation and absorption columns, perhaps the most important unit operations in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, and whose optimization is integral to overall performance of any LNG plant. This project will use 3D printers to rapidly prototype concepts of columns and their internals, and test them using flow characterization ....Novel gas-liquid columns for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. Novel gas-liquid columns for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. This project aims to design distillation and absorption columns, perhaps the most important unit operations in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, and whose optimization is integral to overall performance of any LNG plant. This project will use 3D printers to rapidly prototype concepts of columns and their internals, and test them using flow characterization tools and numerical models. The final outcome of the project will be a set of designs of the columns, which should be more efficient, safer and cheaper to operate, and have smaller physical and environmental footprints, thus helping the Australian LNG industry to stay globally competitive.Read moreRead less
Alarm Management - Silence is Golden. This project develops novel strategies and tools that aid alarm rationalisation in all types of process plants (e.g. gas, petrochemical, mining) by extracting groupings of related alarm tags from an enormous dataset of complex process data. These groupings are used in re-aligning the alarm systems, thus overcoming problems associated with the common practice of over-alarming, which may contribute to incidents like the Longford tragedy in Victoria. The approa ....Alarm Management - Silence is Golden. This project develops novel strategies and tools that aid alarm rationalisation in all types of process plants (e.g. gas, petrochemical, mining) by extracting groupings of related alarm tags from an enormous dataset of complex process data. These groupings are used in re-aligning the alarm systems, thus overcoming problems associated with the common practice of over-alarming, which may contribute to incidents like the Longford tragedy in Victoria. The approach is cost effective and improves alarm management. It addresses economic and safety concerns of the process industry as well as concerns raised in the study commissioned by the Institute of Engineers, Australia.Read moreRead less
Thermal management of methane fuelled planar solid oxide fuel cells. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are novel devices for generating energy with extremely low emissions. This project will conduct novel experiments and numerical simulations to improve the efficiency of SOFCs. This will then allow wider adoption of this technology, thus reducing CO2 and other environmental emissions from our power generation systems.
A green technology for liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification. Upon arrival to its destination, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported from Australia must be converted back into gas to make it suitable for distribution to end users, for which the current technologies burn up to two per cent our LNG exports. This project will design a technology that will use the energy of ambient air, which will not only increase the profit but also reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Improvements and Optimisation of Water Electrolysis for Hydroxy Gas Production for Metal Cutting Applications. The current technique for metal cutting mainly uses oxygen-acetylene flames, which means for the large number of Australian remote communities oxygen and acetylene bottles have to be transported from major cities. This incurs significant transport costs and associated environmental emissions and presents major safety concerns. Hydroxy flames using electrolysis of water can alleviate the ....Improvements and Optimisation of Water Electrolysis for Hydroxy Gas Production for Metal Cutting Applications. The current technique for metal cutting mainly uses oxygen-acetylene flames, which means for the large number of Australian remote communities oxygen and acetylene bottles have to be transported from major cities. This incurs significant transport costs and associated environmental emissions and presents major safety concerns. Hydroxy flames using electrolysis of water can alleviate these problems and, by utilising renewable electricity, the new technology to be developed in this research will transform tens of thousands of Australian metal workshops to be more environmentally friendly, safer and more cost-effective, thus contributing to the development of an environmentally sustainable Australia. Read moreRead less
An innovative two-phase anaerobic process for biogas production from green waste and animal droppings for remote communities. Australia's remote communities, including agricultural and Indigenous communities, are an important part of Australian society and a significant contributor to the Australian economy, yet their access to cheap, secure, reliable and clean energy remains a significant challenge. Building on recent scientific advancement in anaerobic digestion, this project will develop a ne ....An innovative two-phase anaerobic process for biogas production from green waste and animal droppings for remote communities. Australia's remote communities, including agricultural and Indigenous communities, are an important part of Australian society and a significant contributor to the Australian economy, yet their access to cheap, secure, reliable and clean energy remains a significant challenge. Building on recent scientific advancement in anaerobic digestion, this project will develop a new technology for biogas production using locally available resources such as green waste and animal droppings. The outcome of this project will provide clean energy services to regional communities while minimising greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste disposal and thus contribute to the development of an environmentally sustainable Australia.Read moreRead less
Methanol to diesel. Australia has large remote gas reserves which are not accessible to markets via pipeline and cannot be effectively utilised using liquefied natural gas technology. Fischer-Tropsch conversion of gas to liquid (GTL), being capital intense, is uneconomical for these stranded gas resources. This project will develop a new GTL technology to produce sulphur-free, clean combustion diesel. The outcomes of this research will be a frontier technology that allows more effective utilisat ....Methanol to diesel. Australia has large remote gas reserves which are not accessible to markets via pipeline and cannot be effectively utilised using liquefied natural gas technology. Fischer-Tropsch conversion of gas to liquid (GTL), being capital intense, is uneconomical for these stranded gas resources. This project will develop a new GTL technology to produce sulphur-free, clean combustion diesel. The outcomes of this research will be a frontier technology that allows more effective utilisation of Australian remote gas resources to meet rising global demand for transport fuels, adding enormous value to Australian natural resources and contributing to Building and Transforming Australian industries.Read moreRead less
Fundamental Data and Thermodynamic Modelling for Cryogenic LNG Fluids to Improve Process Design, Simulation and Operation. This research will contribute to a more environmentally sustainable Australia because it will promote the use of natural gas as a fuel supply which produces significantly fewer greenhouse gases than oil or coal. This project will improve the ability of engineers to reliably simulate LNG production plants as well as test new processes and technologies with the potential to in ....Fundamental Data and Thermodynamic Modelling for Cryogenic LNG Fluids to Improve Process Design, Simulation and Operation. This research will contribute to a more environmentally sustainable Australia because it will promote the use of natural gas as a fuel supply which produces significantly fewer greenhouse gases than oil or coal. This project will improve the ability of engineers to reliably simulate LNG production plants as well as test new processes and technologies with the potential to increase efficiency or revenue. Consequently, the level of over-engineering and, thus, the capital and operational costs of such plants will decrease. This in turn will promote the development of Australian gas reserves, particularly for those fields currently on the margins of economic viability.Read moreRead less
Development of a Novel One Step Process for Gas Conversion to Liquid. Australia has a rich natural gas reserve, most of which is in remote locations. This project will lead to a new technology to use the remote gas that would be flared into the atmosphere, thus benefiting both Australian economy and green house gas reduction. It will also reduce the risk of relying on importing oil from Overseas thus contributing to Australia's energy security. In addition, while crude-based oil emits SOx, NOx a ....Development of a Novel One Step Process for Gas Conversion to Liquid. Australia has a rich natural gas reserve, most of which is in remote locations. This project will lead to a new technology to use the remote gas that would be flared into the atmosphere, thus benefiting both Australian economy and green house gas reduction. It will also reduce the risk of relying on importing oil from Overseas thus contributing to Australia's energy security. In addition, while crude-based oil emits SOx, NOx and particulates etc into air, the liquid fuels from gas are pure and burns cleanly thus also contributing to air pollution control. Read moreRead less