Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, ....Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, unprecedented in scope and resolution. Outcomes include an open access database to quantify and visualise intra-urban air pollution and human exposure and develop air quality maps and smoke pollution management tools. It is expected to advance the evidence-based management of air as a resource, increasing economic prosperity and enhancing human health and quality of life.Read moreRead less
Integration of Life Cycle Analysis, EnternE, and Economic Models to Sustainable Regional Development. This project involves the development of a novel decision-making framework to support the transition to sustainability within regions. The approach is based on integrating the methodologies of Life Cycle Analysis, externality costing and traditional economic analysis to assess the tradeoffs between economic, environmental and social outcomes. The integration of these techniques will allow the re ....Integration of Life Cycle Analysis, EnternE, and Economic Models to Sustainable Regional Development. This project involves the development of a novel decision-making framework to support the transition to sustainability within regions. The approach is based on integrating the methodologies of Life Cycle Analysis, externality costing and traditional economic analysis to assess the tradeoffs between economic, environmental and social outcomes. The integration of these techniques will allow the relative magnitude of positive and negative impacts of development decisions to be reported as an economic unit. This will allow the tradeoffs that occur between economic, environmental and social considerations to be quantified and the sustainability of a development or planning scenario to be assessed.Read moreRead less
A novel environment friendly energy efficient ventilation system using wind turbine ventilator and advanced active flow control. This project addresses a growing demand of modern day living: cost effective and efficient ventilation in building using a novel hybrid system of wind turbine ventilator and air circulation control technology providing significant savings in total building energy consumption and carbon emissions creating frontier technology industries and new jobs.
Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the c ....Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the characteristics of the particles, their sources and spatial and temporal variation across different urban areas and time scales. Further, the impacts of changing fuels, vehicle technologies, and climate on future trends of the particles will be elucidated.Read moreRead less
Solar detoxification of wastewater: Bactericidal and photocatalytic activities of titania-based compounds in an externally-irradiated bubble column immobilized reactor. Light-assisted treatment is one of the most attractive methods for wastewater reclamation - a major issue for Australia with limited fresh water resources. However, commercial exploitation is hindered by inability to harness sunlight and poor photoreactor design. This proposal deals with the development of Co-titania photocatalys ....Solar detoxification of wastewater: Bactericidal and photocatalytic activities of titania-based compounds in an externally-irradiated bubble column immobilized reactor. Light-assisted treatment is one of the most attractive methods for wastewater reclamation - a major issue for Australia with limited fresh water resources. However, commercial exploitation is hindered by inability to harness sunlight and poor photoreactor design. This proposal deals with the development of Co-titania photocatalyst activatable by visible light to effect organic degradation and bacterial sterilization simultaneously at room temperature. The new reactor permits in-situ separation of the solid catalyst from treated liquid thus ensuring continuous production of recyclable water. The huge economic returns of solar-operated mobile or stationary wastewater unit from local and international markets are obvious.Read moreRead less
Advanced Particles and Systems for Photoinduced Processes. One of the most crucial challenges facing chemical scientists is the need for ecologically clean chemical processes and technology. Solar induced processes, such as photocatalysis, are adept at utilising more of our natural energy resources. However, these processes currently suffer from low efficiencies. The proposed research aims to address these issues. Successful implementation of this technology will help place Australian research a ....Advanced Particles and Systems for Photoinduced Processes. One of the most crucial challenges facing chemical scientists is the need for ecologically clean chemical processes and technology. Solar induced processes, such as photocatalysis, are adept at utilising more of our natural energy resources. However, these processes currently suffer from low efficiencies. The proposed research aims to address these issues. Successful implementation of this technology will help place Australian research at the forefront of sustainable methods for water treatment and material synthesis for functional applications. This will provide economic and social benefits due to improvements in processes with higher efficiencies and greater use of clean, natural resources.
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Sequestration of CO2 with enhanced methane recovery from deep coal. Coal and gas represent the main energy source for the Australian and many other national economies into the foreseeable future. The continuing use of these critical resources requires that greenhouse gas emission issues be addressed. Any serious attempt to achieve reduced emission of CO2 from power generation requires sequestration as a necessary element. A plausible method for cost effective sequestration of large amounts of ....Sequestration of CO2 with enhanced methane recovery from deep coal. Coal and gas represent the main energy source for the Australian and many other national economies into the foreseeable future. The continuing use of these critical resources requires that greenhouse gas emission issues be addressed. Any serious attempt to achieve reduced emission of CO2 from power generation requires sequestration as a necessary element. A plausible method for cost effective sequestration of large amounts of CO2 is by geological fixing in deep, unminable coal. The key technological and scientific issues regarding capacity, rate, technical viability and site selection form the basis of this proposal.Read moreRead less
Energy positive targeted resource recovery from sludge. Energy positive targeted resource recovery from sludge. This project aims to develop an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable technology to completely dewater sludge. Sludge management is a notorious and costly issue for water utilities. The poor dewaterability of sludge results in a high moisture content. The only solid residue is inorganic ash, from which valuable resources such as coagulants, phosphate, and metals can be extracted. ....Energy positive targeted resource recovery from sludge. Energy positive targeted resource recovery from sludge. This project aims to develop an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable technology to completely dewater sludge. Sludge management is a notorious and costly issue for water utilities. The poor dewaterability of sludge results in a high moisture content. The only solid residue is inorganic ash, from which valuable resources such as coagulants, phosphate, and metals can be extracted. The research is expected to support the water utilities to achieve sustainable sludge management and potentially bring large economic, environmental and social benefits to water utilities.Read moreRead less
A new end use of recycled water for sustainable Australian water. The economic, environmental and social impacts of this project would have benefits across Australia, and the rest of the world. Recycled water has never been used in clothes washing machines anywhere in the world, by introducing it here in Australia we would save approximately 20% of domestic water used for laundry purposes. This also has significant policy implications as this would be a huge step towards the implementation of a ....A new end use of recycled water for sustainable Australian water. The economic, environmental and social impacts of this project would have benefits across Australia, and the rest of the world. Recycled water has never been used in clothes washing machines anywhere in the world, by introducing it here in Australia we would save approximately 20% of domestic water used for laundry purposes. This also has significant policy implications as this would be a huge step towards the implementation of a program of recycled water usage in Australia.Read moreRead less
Life-time Modelling of Industrial Products for Reuse. Product disposal responsibility has shifted from consumers to manufacturers. Re-use of components is the most efficient strategy for product recovery, which requires reliable methods for assessing the quality and remaining life of used components. The aim of this project is to develop a lifetime model to estimate the remaining life and quality of a used component. This will enable manufacturers to estimate the potential reusability of a compo ....Life-time Modelling of Industrial Products for Reuse. Product disposal responsibility has shifted from consumers to manufacturers. Re-use of components is the most efficient strategy for product recovery, which requires reliable methods for assessing the quality and remaining life of used components. The aim of this project is to develop a lifetime model to estimate the remaining life and quality of a used component. This will enable manufacturers to estimate the potential reusability of a component without going through costly and time consuming disassembly processes. In addition, the data from the lifetime monitoring process will provide information for improving the design and manufacture of environmentally friendly products.Read moreRead less