Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989675
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,000.00
Summary
Interface-specific facility for quantifying adsorption and structures at particulate interfaces. The facility will be used by the collaborating universities to investigate adsorption and interface properties with great precision, and to develop new and improved technologies for coal and mineral processing, saline water utilisation, water desalination, energy production and environment protection. In particular, the project will investigate innovative ways of using ion-interface interactions in ....Interface-specific facility for quantifying adsorption and structures at particulate interfaces. The facility will be used by the collaborating universities to investigate adsorption and interface properties with great precision, and to develop new and improved technologies for coal and mineral processing, saline water utilisation, water desalination, energy production and environment protection. In particular, the project will investigate innovative ways of using ion-interface interactions in saline water for cleaning coal and recovering value minerals by flotation, and for improving dissolved air flotation used in water treatment and desalination to produce drinking water. The project will further investigate novel ways of capturing CO2, storing natural gases and hydrogen, and tailoring nutrient nano-crystals for foliar delivery.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560734
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$110,000.00
Summary
Accelerated solvent extractor and evaporator for molecular and stable isotope analyses of sedimentary organic matter. The accelerated solvent extractor (ASE) uses pressurised liquid extraction to obtain the bitumen fraction easily measurable for molecular and isotopic composition of organic sediments in just a few minutes. This compares favourably to traditional extraction procedures, which can take two to three days. Our projects often require the analyses of large numbers of sediment extracts ....Accelerated solvent extractor and evaporator for molecular and stable isotope analyses of sedimentary organic matter. The accelerated solvent extractor (ASE) uses pressurised liquid extraction to obtain the bitumen fraction easily measurable for molecular and isotopic composition of organic sediments in just a few minutes. This compares favourably to traditional extraction procedures, which can take two to three days. Our projects often require the analyses of large numbers of sediment extracts to obtain chemical data at high geological resolution. The ASE/Evaporator will greatly assist these endeavours which aim to improve our understanding of Australian environments (incorporating the effects of natural and human-related processes) and identify source rocks offering good petroleum reserves.Read moreRead less
Designing Bandwidth-Efficient High-Speed Underwater Acoustic Communication Systems with Block-by-Block Turbo Processing. Australia has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world, and it is vitally important for Australia to understand and benefit from the oceans. This project will give new perspectives in developing underwater acoustic communications that are important for marine industries and scientific research in areas such as the exploration and exploitation of offshore oil an ....Designing Bandwidth-Efficient High-Speed Underwater Acoustic Communication Systems with Block-by-Block Turbo Processing. Australia has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world, and it is vitally important for Australia to understand and benefit from the oceans. This project will give new perspectives in developing underwater acoustic communications that are important for marine industries and scientific research in areas such as the exploration and exploitation of offshore oil and gas, and ocean environment and climate monitoring. This project will lift the international profile of Australia in underwater acoustic communications research and, through the training of early career researchers and PhD students, this project will also develop a skills base for Australia in underwater acoustic communications.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882836
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$160,000.00
Summary
A novel isotope facility to characterise high-molecular-weight fractions of natural organic matter in soils, sediments, water, petroleum and coal. This facility will improve our ability to forecast environmental responses to future climate change, and help Australia manage current threats to its biodiversity. Furthermore, this research will increase the ability to identify crude oil sources, to the benefit of petroleum exploration in Australia. This facility will also contribute to an improved u ....A novel isotope facility to characterise high-molecular-weight fractions of natural organic matter in soils, sediments, water, petroleum and coal. This facility will improve our ability to forecast environmental responses to future climate change, and help Australia manage current threats to its biodiversity. Furthermore, this research will increase the ability to identify crude oil sources, to the benefit of petroleum exploration in Australia. This facility will also contribute to an improved understanding of controls on water quality and will help to protect our precious freshwater resources, already under intense pressure from climate change. Importantly, this project will enable students and young professionals to be trained in state-of-the-art technology, leading to quality scientists ready for employment in industry.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668536
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$485,000.00
Summary
Western Australian Facility for High Throughput Biological and Organic Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Disciplines such as pharmaceuticals, plant protection, mineral extraction, and conservation all need to separate, identify and quantify molecules. The method of choice for small molecules (< 500 amu) is gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A broad range of laboratories in WA are using GC-MS, but the equipment is fully utilised, outdated and limiting progress. This applicatio ....Western Australian Facility for High Throughput Biological and Organic Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Disciplines such as pharmaceuticals, plant protection, mineral extraction, and conservation all need to separate, identify and quantify molecules. The method of choice for small molecules (< 500 amu) is gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A broad range of laboratories in WA are using GC-MS, but the equipment is fully utilised, outdated and limiting progress. This application seeks to purchase research grade GC-MS equipment with order-of-magnitude improvements in mass range, sample throughput, discrimination and data handling capacities. This equipment will transform capabilities and will enhance projects supporting the minerals and agricultural industries and enhance biodiversity conservation efforts.Read moreRead less
NUMERICAL MODELLING OF LOCAL SCOUR BELOW OFFSHORE PIPELINES. This research will develop a numerical model for time-dependent local scour below offshore pipelines subject to steady currents and waves. No such model is currently available in the offshore oil and gas industry and the research community. Instead, design engineers have to use simple empirical formulae to estimate the scour potential in complex environmental conditions. This may result in unsafe or over conservative designs. Therefore ....NUMERICAL MODELLING OF LOCAL SCOUR BELOW OFFSHORE PIPELINES. This research will develop a numerical model for time-dependent local scour below offshore pipelines subject to steady currents and waves. No such model is currently available in the offshore oil and gas industry and the research community. Instead, design engineers have to use simple empirical formulae to estimate the scour potential in complex environmental conditions. This may result in unsafe or over conservative designs. Therefore the model developed in this project will have direct impact on the stability design of offshore pipelines. The design will be safer and more reliable, and improved design may lead to a reduced cost.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
Investigations into the Mechanisms of Reactions between Alkanes and Nitric Oxide at Low Temperatures. Energy is essential to human progress and Australia's economy is built on our energy-intense industry. In the foreseeable future, combustion of hydrocarbon fuels remains a major means of energy utilisation. The challenges are to reduce emissions and improve combustion operability. The outcomes of the present research will provide a scientific basis that enable new combustion and associated emiss ....Investigations into the Mechanisms of Reactions between Alkanes and Nitric Oxide at Low Temperatures. Energy is essential to human progress and Australia's economy is built on our energy-intense industry. In the foreseeable future, combustion of hydrocarbon fuels remains a major means of energy utilisation. The challenges are to reduce emissions and improve combustion operability. The outcomes of the present research will provide a scientific basis that enable new combustion and associated emission control technologies to be developed with potential to reduce engine knock, improve efficiency and reduce NOx emissions during the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels. This project will also offer an excellent opportunity to develop future combustion scientists and technologies through postgraduate research training.Read moreRead less
On-Bottom Stability of Large Diameter Submarine Pipelines. Offshore oil and gas extraction contributes approximately $17 billion annually to Australian economy. As the extraction activities increase, the length of pipelines being installed in Australian waters increases exponentially. The typical cost of a large diameter pipeline on the North West Shelf (NWS) of Australia is approximately $4.5 million/km. On-bottom stabilisation measures account for approximately 30% of the total cost. It is exp ....On-Bottom Stability of Large Diameter Submarine Pipelines. Offshore oil and gas extraction contributes approximately $17 billion annually to Australian economy. As the extraction activities increase, the length of pipelines being installed in Australian waters increases exponentially. The typical cost of a large diameter pipeline on the North West Shelf (NWS) of Australia is approximately $4.5 million/km. On-bottom stabilisation measures account for approximately 30% of the total cost. It is expected that the outcomes of this project will enable significant cost savings for the new projects currently being developed such as Pluto, Browse, Sunrise and Greater Gorgon, and will provide the scientific evidence that will underpin the life extension reviews of existing trunklines.Read moreRead less
Chronostratigraphic Framework for the Devonian Canning Basin - A Multidisciplinary Record of Environmental Change. Our detailed chronostratigraphic framework for Canning Basin and the biomarker data on source rock history provides an increased understanding of the resource potential of the basin and similar settings worldwide. Furthermore this high-fidelity data will be used by companies to develop the 'next' generation of hydrocarbon industry modelling workflows. Our research program also has i ....Chronostratigraphic Framework for the Devonian Canning Basin - A Multidisciplinary Record of Environmental Change. Our detailed chronostratigraphic framework for Canning Basin and the biomarker data on source rock history provides an increased understanding of the resource potential of the basin and similar settings worldwide. Furthermore this high-fidelity data will be used by companies to develop the 'next' generation of hydrocarbon industry modelling workflows. Our research program also has important environmental implications; providing insight into drivers for Devonian mass extinctions and as periods of past biotic crises become increasingly understood they can provide critical insights into determining the thresholds of environmental change, which may potentially serve as analogues for present-day global climate change scenarios.Read moreRead less