Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess c ....Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess chemical fate on a national level by linking sales/use with fate and release from wastewater treatment plants and assess treatment efficiency at >100 plants around Australia. The project expects to provide insight for government, wastewater managers and industry into hazards that may affect environmental and human health.Read moreRead less
In-situ electrochemical generation of caustic and oxygen from sewage for emission control in sewers. This project aims to deliver an innovative technology that controls the emission of notorious compounds from sewer networks using chemicals directly produced from sewage, with electricity being the input. Compared to existing methods, this technology provides a much safer and more environmentally friendly solution, at less than 50 per cent of the cost.
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH190100009
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,317,500.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Microrecycling of battery and consumer wastes . This project aims to transform Australia’s waste and resource recovery industry by equipping it with scientifically developed advanced manufacturing capability, focusing on small-scale processing of materials produced from battery and consumer wastes which would otherwise mostly end up in landfill. The project will deliver new knowledge in high-temperature reactions of waste and selective synthesis techniques to transform waste ....ARC Research Hub for Microrecycling of battery and consumer wastes . This project aims to transform Australia’s waste and resource recovery industry by equipping it with scientifically developed advanced manufacturing capability, focusing on small-scale processing of materials produced from battery and consumer wastes which would otherwise mostly end up in landfill. The project will deliver new knowledge in high-temperature reactions of waste and selective synthesis techniques to transform waste into valuable materials and products, including metallic alloys, oxides and carbon. Expected outcomes include industry adoption of commercially viable technology and processes where low value or complex waste is reformed into higher value materials, creating jobs and significant environmental and social benefits.Read moreRead less
Synthesis of Activated Carbon Supported Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles and Application to Contaminant Degradation in Benthic Sediments. Sediment contamination is a major problem in harbours and estuaries around Australia. For example, in Sydney Harbour, a total fishing ban has been implemented as a result of excessive levels of dioxins and benzofurans in fish tissues. There is also concern at the possibility of large scale contamination of Botany Bay as a result of historic industrial activity a ....Synthesis of Activated Carbon Supported Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles and Application to Contaminant Degradation in Benthic Sediments. Sediment contamination is a major problem in harbours and estuaries around Australia. For example, in Sydney Harbour, a total fishing ban has been implemented as a result of excessive levels of dioxins and benzofurans in fish tissues. There is also concern at the possibility of large scale contamination of Botany Bay as a result of historic industrial activity around the Bay. While dredging and on-land treatment of sediments is being adopted at the most severely contaminated sites, the cost of this approach is exorbitant. For sites where removal of contaminated sediments cannot be justified, the approach proposed in this study of a technology that entraps contaminants and enhances their in situ biodegradation is potentially a way forward.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100922
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,490.00
Summary
Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved ....Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved capacities to plan for future change and establishing anticipatory decision-making within Australian natural resource management. This should provide significant benefits based on an integrated approach to science and decision-making that addresses trade-offs between stakeholders to identify shared action pathways.Read moreRead less
Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitt ....Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitted vastly different quantities of greenhouse gases in the past. The project will analyse how the CB will impact the climate transition plans of countries such as Australia. The project will thus bring significant new research in philosophy to bear on a practical issue.Read moreRead less
Cover crops that decrease phosphorus (P) transport from agricultural soils by increasing the efficiency of P fertiliser application. The aim of this project is to develop cover crop practices for the heavily fertilised potato cropping soils of the Robertson district that will minimise erosion and runoff of water potentially rich in phosphorus (P), thereby resulting in significant improvements in the environmental management of this sensitive catchment area. The cover crops will: (i) improve infi ....Cover crops that decrease phosphorus (P) transport from agricultural soils by increasing the efficiency of P fertiliser application. The aim of this project is to develop cover crop practices for the heavily fertilised potato cropping soils of the Robertson district that will minimise erosion and runoff of water potentially rich in phosphorus (P), thereby resulting in significant improvements in the environmental management of this sensitive catchment area. The cover crops will: (i) improve infiltration, decrease erosion, and off-site transport of P; (ii)increase access to accumulated soil P, making it available to a subsequent potato crop, thus decreasing the P loading of the soil; and (iii) have a biofumigation effect that will reduce the use of soil fumigants.
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This proposal is a major part of initial research to be undertaken by the Aquafin CRC. This project has been jointly developed by the research agencies in close consultation with industry, Government regulators and FRDC.
Within the salmon component of the CRC Environment Program, local or on-site research needs are being addressed by an existing FRDC grant 2000/164 which is designed to determine the effects of fallowing on benthic fauna and biogeochemical processes.
The prese ....This proposal is a major part of initial research to be undertaken by the Aquafin CRC. This project has been jointly developed by the research agencies in close consultation with industry, Government regulators and FRDC.
Within the salmon component of the CRC Environment Program, local or on-site research needs are being addressed by an existing FRDC grant 2000/164 which is designed to determine the effects of fallowing on benthic fauna and biogeochemical processes.
The present proposal will examine the system-wide environmental issues facing finfish aquaculture with an initial focus on the salmonid industry. This project explicitly addresses the fact that further expansion of the salmonid industry will be limited by the industry’s contribution to nutrient loads in surrounding water bodies and possible effects on phytoplankton abundance, dissolved oxygen levels and other ecological changes. The Tasmanian State Government is proposing to limit nutrient release through the imposition of feed quotas for different regions. The quotas set are necessarily best estimates and may be overly conservative because of a lack of detailed knowledge of the effects of nutrient release on ecosystem functioning.
The modelling, laboratory and associated field work proposed here provides a mechanism to identify the minimum data needs for assessing environmental conditions, allows scenarios to be tested and key linkages in the ecology of the region to be identified. However, for these to function well we need to resolve uncertainties about the influence of waters from D’Entrecasteaux Channel on conditions in the Huon Estuary, the role of organic-rich sediments in the natural cycling of nutrients and consumption of oxygen in the estuary and the manner in which phytoplankton groups respond to elevated nutrient levels. The project will take advantage of the extensive set of environmental information, data and concepts generated by the FRDC-funded Huon Estuary Study - Environmental Research for Integrated Catchment Management and Aquaculture (Project No. 96/284; abbreviated to HES hereafter).
There is a demonstrable need for more effective monitoring of the environmental effects of finfish aquaculture. Predictive models can be used by industry and regulators to guide choices among alternative development strategies. For effective long-term management, it is also critical that effective monitoring programs are set in place, both to allow evaluation of the performance of environmental management strategies, and to assess model performance and reliability. This project will contribute to the design of long-term monitoring programs, by identifying cost-effective indicators and sampling designs which discriminate among alternative model assumptions and predictions, taking into account spatial and temporal variability. As well, the Program will seek advice and information from overseas agencies to take advantage of emerging technologies and approaches. Objectives: 1. Our overall objective is to aquire the necessary system understnding and knowldege, and apply it, in collaboration with industry and regulators, to support development of an adaptive management program which addresses system-wide impacts and production capacity for, and allows sustainable development of, salmon farms in the Huon Estuary and D'Entrecasteaux Channel. 2. Also, to develop and implement 3-D hydrodynamic and ecological models of the Huon Estuary and D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and use these to assess an predict the environmental impacts of salmon farm nutrient loads in relation to other nutrient sources (especially catchments and marine boundaries), and to assess the level of connectivity and exchange between Huon Estuary and D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and among subsystems within the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. 3. Determine the role of sediments in estuaries and nearby channel as a source of nutrient release and oxygen consumption as an input for the modes and for comparison and processes occurring in sediments under fish cages. 4. Identify and quantify the key processes that link nutrient cycles with phytoplankton abundance and composition and determine the fate of the nutrients produced in finfish cage farms in waters of the Huon Estuary and D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Read moreRead less
FRDC 2016-068 Vulnerability Of The Endangered Maugean Skate Population To Degraded Environmental Conditions In Macquarie Harbour- Presentation To The 6th International Conference Of Fish Telemetry 23
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$7,500.00
Summary
An abstract accepted to present the work from FRDC 2016-068 at the International fish telemetry conference later this year. Given that the final year of the project happened right in the middle of the pandemic, we have not yet had an opportunity to present the work in any international forum. Since then we have new information that has clearly shown that the Maugean skate is in a critical state and requires immediate conservation action. As such, the interest in the species is very high at the m ....An abstract accepted to present the work from FRDC 2016-068 at the International fish telemetry conference later this year. Given that the final year of the project happened right in the middle of the pandemic, we have not yet had an opportunity to present the work in any international forum. Since then we have new information that has clearly shown that the Maugean skate is in a critical state and requires immediate conservation action. As such, the interest in the species is very high at the moment, and the results from this project are even more relevant now. So we think this is a great opportunity to help communicate this novel and very important work. This would allow us to communicate our findings to a broad technical audience, increasing the outreach and impact of the project. The work that will be presented will have important benefits for the conservation of the species and inform management of industry and other users of Macquarie Harbour.Read moreRead less