Membrane distillation development for concentrated solar thermal systems. Membrane distillation development for concentrated solar thermal systems. This project aims to develop a new membrane distillation module that works with a high efficiency solar thermal tower system. Fresh water and energy are inextricably linked and form the basis for all human activity. Remote locations in Australia and the Middle East and North Africa are blessed with abundant solar resources and increasing levels of de ....Membrane distillation development for concentrated solar thermal systems. Membrane distillation development for concentrated solar thermal systems. This project aims to develop a new membrane distillation module that works with a high efficiency solar thermal tower system. Fresh water and energy are inextricably linked and form the basis for all human activity. Remote locations in Australia and the Middle East and North Africa are blessed with abundant solar resources and increasing levels of development, but burdened by access to reliable water treatment and electricity generation facilities. This project will use recently developed materials and design tools to overcome technical challenges that limited membrane distillation technology. This is expected to open up an innovative method for co-production of water and electricity which can handle transient solar and water quality inputs.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100185
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
High throughput microbial microculture and single cell analysis facility. High throughput microbial microculture and single cell analysis facility:
To support the emerging research area of microbial heterogeneity and variation in response to conditions, this project aims to establish a facility centred on a 24-microbioreactor system for high throughput microbial culturing. This is designed to be connected to two complementary analysis techniques – flow cytometry and high resolution infra-red mi ....High throughput microbial microculture and single cell analysis facility. High throughput microbial microculture and single cell analysis facility:
To support the emerging research area of microbial heterogeneity and variation in response to conditions, this project aims to establish a facility centred on a 24-microbioreactor system for high throughput microbial culturing. This is designed to be connected to two complementary analysis techniques – flow cytometry and high resolution infra-red microscopy – for the non-destructive measurement of metabolic activities and mapping of constituents of whole cells. This would help us to determine the variation in response between organisms, to guide cell line development and process optimisation for a wide range of biotechnology applications. Expected outcomes may apply to Australia’s brewing, wine, food processing, aquaculture, biofuels, biomedical and biotechnology industries.Read moreRead less
Doped metal perovskites for electrocatalysis. This project aims to discover and design perovskite metal-oxide electrocatalyst materials and develop electrocatalytic methods for efficiently driving the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction. These are the two most crucial reactions in sustainable energy cycles involving water, hydrogen and oxygen. The project’s anticipated advances in electrocatalysis efficiency for these two reactions will benefit sustainable energy technolo ....Doped metal perovskites for electrocatalysis. This project aims to discover and design perovskite metal-oxide electrocatalyst materials and develop electrocatalytic methods for efficiently driving the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction. These are the two most crucial reactions in sustainable energy cycles involving water, hydrogen and oxygen. The project’s anticipated advances in electrocatalysis efficiency for these two reactions will benefit sustainable energy technologies such as fuel cells, metal air batteries and water splitting.Read moreRead less
Distributed nonlinear control based on differential dissipativity. This project aims to investigate the process control methodologies crucial to smart manufacturing It aims to develop a distributed optimisation-based nonlinear control approach for plant-wide flexible manufacturing, which can achieve time-varying operational targets including production rates and product specifications to meet dynamic market demands. This includes a contraction-based nonlinear distributed control framework that e ....Distributed nonlinear control based on differential dissipativity. This project aims to investigate the process control methodologies crucial to smart manufacturing It aims to develop a distributed optimisation-based nonlinear control approach for plant-wide flexible manufacturing, which can achieve time-varying operational targets including production rates and product specifications to meet dynamic market demands. This includes a contraction-based nonlinear distributed control framework that ensures plant-wide stability at any feasible set-points or references and a distributed economic model predictive control approach that coordinates autonomous controllers to achieve plant-wide economic objectives in a self-organising manner. The outcomes of this project are expected to form a process control framework for next-generation smart plants.Read moreRead less
Innovative High Temperature Carbon–Air Batteries for High Power Generation. The project intends to develop carbon-air batteries which are expected to have energy density 10 times that of lithium-ion batteries. The battery is designed to use naturally-rich carbon as fuel, highly energy-efficient solid oxide fuel cells as electrochemical reactors, and an integrated mixed conducting ceramic membrane for in situ carbon dioxide separation. The success of this project would provide us with a low-carbo ....Innovative High Temperature Carbon–Air Batteries for High Power Generation. The project intends to develop carbon-air batteries which are expected to have energy density 10 times that of lithium-ion batteries. The battery is designed to use naturally-rich carbon as fuel, highly energy-efficient solid oxide fuel cells as electrochemical reactors, and an integrated mixed conducting ceramic membrane for in situ carbon dioxide separation. The success of this project would provide us with a low-carbon energy system based on Australia’s rich coal resources. New knowledge about carbon dioxide separation may also facilitate carbon dioxide sequestration in other fields.Read moreRead less
Highly efficient electric power and value-added synthesis gas co-generation from methane with zero greenhouse gas emission. This project addresses a novel sealing-free solid oxide fuel cell system producing simultaneously synthesis gas and electricity from methane with zero greenhouse gas emission. The project aims to deliver economic benefits and contribute to environmental protection and increased employment opportunities.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100445
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,000.00
Summary
Engineering triple-phase boundary for superior aqueous metal-air batteries. This project aims to advance development of high-performance rechargeable aqueous zinc-air (Zn-air) batteries by engineering the triple-phase boundary to increase battery efficiency and power density for practical applications. There is an urgent need to develop sustainable and efficient energy storage and conversion systems to underpin technological development with increasing demand for superior battery technologies fo ....Engineering triple-phase boundary for superior aqueous metal-air batteries. This project aims to advance development of high-performance rechargeable aqueous zinc-air (Zn-air) batteries by engineering the triple-phase boundary to increase battery efficiency and power density for practical applications. There is an urgent need to develop sustainable and efficient energy storage and conversion systems to underpin technological development with increasing demand for superior battery technologies for portable electronics, renewable power sources and electrified vehicles. This project expects to accelerate the commercialisation of rechargeable aqueous Zn-air batteries and progress global commitments to new clean energy sources and storage technologies that are efficient, cost-effective and reliable.Read moreRead less
In-situ catalytic upgrading of bio-oil using scrap tyre char. This project aims to develop advanced, cost-competitive catalysts based on scrap tyre char, an otherwise low-value by-product. These catalysts will be optimised for use in upgrading bio-oil derived from the pyrolysis of woody eucalyptus, an abundant biomass resource across Australia. The project is expected to promote the commercialisation of bio-oil production and enhance the valorisation of scrap tyre char. This is expected to reduc ....In-situ catalytic upgrading of bio-oil using scrap tyre char. This project aims to develop advanced, cost-competitive catalysts based on scrap tyre char, an otherwise low-value by-product. These catalysts will be optimised for use in upgrading bio-oil derived from the pyrolysis of woody eucalyptus, an abundant biomass resource across Australia. The project is expected to promote the commercialisation of bio-oil production and enhance the valorisation of scrap tyre char. This is expected to reduce the carbon footprint from Australian industry, and promote the recycling and reuse of waste scrap tyres.Read moreRead less
Wavelet approaches for solving nonlinear dynamic systems in process engineering. The success of the proposed project will enable us to obtain more accurate numerical solutions for the nonlinear dynamical systems arising from process engineering. This ensures the potential for understanding and optimising industrial and engineering processes. Hence, a wide range of processing industries in Australia, such as agricultural chemicals, mineral processing, food, detergents, pharmaceuticals, ceramics ....Wavelet approaches for solving nonlinear dynamic systems in process engineering. The success of the proposed project will enable us to obtain more accurate numerical solutions for the nonlinear dynamical systems arising from process engineering. This ensures the potential for understanding and optimising industrial and engineering processes. Hence, a wide range of processing industries in Australia, such as agricultural chemicals, mineral processing, food, detergents, pharmaceuticals, ceramics and specialty chemicals will benefit from the results of this project. This will ensure globally competitive production and, therefore, greater contributions to the Australian economy.Read moreRead less
A System Behavioral Approach to Big Data-driven Nonlinear Process Control. This project aims to develop a novel process control approach that utilises big process data to improve the cost-effectiveness of industrial processes. Existing monitoring systems in the industry have been collecting a tremendous amount of process operation data but little effort has been made to use the big process data to enhance process operations. Based on the system behavioural approach and dissipativity theory, inte ....A System Behavioral Approach to Big Data-driven Nonlinear Process Control. This project aims to develop a novel process control approach that utilises big process data to improve the cost-effectiveness of industrial processes. Existing monitoring systems in the industry have been collecting a tremendous amount of process operation data but little effort has been made to use the big process data to enhance process operations. Based on the system behavioural approach and dissipativity theory, integrated with machine learning techniques, this project expects to develop a novel framework for data-driven control using big process data. The outcomes are expected to benefit the Australian process industry, where many processes are controlled by inadequate logic controllers, by improving their operational efficiency.Read moreRead less