Achieving Nitrite Shunt For Mainstream Sewage Treatment Using Human Waste. This project aims to develop a novel technology to achieve mainstream nitrogen removal from domestic sewage via nitrite shunt. Nitrite shunt can reduce energy consumption and promote energy recovery compared with the conventional nitrogen removal process. However, it is difficult to inactivate nitrite-oxidising bacteria, which is a key barrier for achieving nitrite shunt. By advancing the underpinning science and introduc ....Achieving Nitrite Shunt For Mainstream Sewage Treatment Using Human Waste. This project aims to develop a novel technology to achieve mainstream nitrogen removal from domestic sewage via nitrite shunt. Nitrite shunt can reduce energy consumption and promote energy recovery compared with the conventional nitrogen removal process. However, it is difficult to inactivate nitrite-oxidising bacteria, which is a key barrier for achieving nitrite shunt. By advancing the underpinning science and introducing a novel technology that innovatively harnesses a human waste, the project expects to remove the barrier. Expected outcomes will support the transformation of sewage treatment plants into net-zero energy generators. This should provide economic, environmental and energy benefits for Australia’s water and energy sectors.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC230100042
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Battery Recycling. This Training Centre aims to transform Australia’s battery and resource industry by building advanced manufacturing capability for recycling mixed battery materials, promoting 2nd-life re-use, redesigning high performance batteries towards a battery circular economy, and advancing the supporting regulatory landscape. The research will address the challenges associated with battery recycling, deliver industrial demonstrations and promotion policies, and ....ARC Training Centre for Battery Recycling. This Training Centre aims to transform Australia’s battery and resource industry by building advanced manufacturing capability for recycling mixed battery materials, promoting 2nd-life re-use, redesigning high performance batteries towards a battery circular economy, and advancing the supporting regulatory landscape. The research will address the challenges associated with battery recycling, deliver industrial demonstrations and promotion policies, and create a dynamic skilled workforce. Outcomes are expected to shape a distinctive battery recycling model that shifts Australia to zero battery waste to landfill; establish a profitable and self-sustaining onshore industry chain; and help ensure the future of Australia’s energy security.Read moreRead less
On-line monitoring of cyanobacteria to predict coagulant doses and powdered activated carbon application in water treatment. Cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, can impact water quality by releasing toxins that can be harmful to human health and imparting unpleasant taste and odours to the water. This project will support the water industry in managing these risks by providing a rapid, on-line tool to assist in their removal during water treatment.
Saving Nemo: Reducing animal use in toxicity assessments of wastewater. Every day, Australians produce ~5 billion litres of wastewater, which contains a cocktail of chemicals. Industries that discharge wastewater are required to assess chemical risks to the receiving environments by conducting whole animal direct toxicity assessments (DTA), which are expensive and pose an ethical dilemma. Our preliminary research shows that new in vitro bioassays provide an ethical and cost effective alternative ....Saving Nemo: Reducing animal use in toxicity assessments of wastewater. Every day, Australians produce ~5 billion litres of wastewater, which contains a cocktail of chemicals. Industries that discharge wastewater are required to assess chemical risks to the receiving environments by conducting whole animal direct toxicity assessments (DTA), which are expensive and pose an ethical dilemma. Our preliminary research shows that new in vitro bioassays provide an ethical and cost effective alternative that could be incorporated into DTA programs if their ecological relevance can be demonstrated. This project will develop and validate a new and internationally significant suite of in vitro bioassays for incorporation into DTA programs, leading to more ethical, cost effective and improved environmental protection.Read moreRead less
Fate of PAPs and short-chain PFAS in biosolids amended soils. Biosolids generated during wastewater treatment contain PFAS which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Application of biosolids to agricultural land may result in soil, groundwater and surface water PFAS contamination via leaching and run-off and pose unknown potential risk to soil health, crops and beneficial biota. This study aims to generate novel knowledge on the PFAS fate in biosolid amended soils, crops and toxicity to ke ....Fate of PAPs and short-chain PFAS in biosolids amended soils. Biosolids generated during wastewater treatment contain PFAS which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Application of biosolids to agricultural land may result in soil, groundwater and surface water PFAS contamination via leaching and run-off and pose unknown potential risk to soil health, crops and beneficial biota. This study aims to generate novel knowledge on the PFAS fate in biosolid amended soils, crops and toxicity to key soil and aquatic biota at environmentally relevant concentrations. This study is supported by Australian water and its allied industries, as it is important for them to ensure that biosolids application to agricultural land is an environmentally sustainable solution to the Australian farmers and communities.Read moreRead less
Commercial scale production of biocrude by hydrothermal liquefaction. The project aims to develop new understanding and tools to support commercial-scale production of biocrude from microalgae or biosolids and enable a breakthrough in cost-effective production of sustainable fuels. A novel hydrothermal liquefaction reactor has been developed that has strong potential to overcome the limitations of Muradel's existing demonstration reactor which, while world-leading, is uneconomical at commercial ....Commercial scale production of biocrude by hydrothermal liquefaction. The project aims to develop new understanding and tools to support commercial-scale production of biocrude from microalgae or biosolids and enable a breakthrough in cost-effective production of sustainable fuels. A novel hydrothermal liquefaction reactor has been developed that has strong potential to overcome the limitations of Muradel's existing demonstration reactor which, while world-leading, is uneconomical at commercial scale. The project aims to develop design tools to optimise the new reactor, comprising a chemical model of the complex, multi-component hydrothermal liquefaction reactions, a computational model of the mixing and heat transfer within it and a network model of the energy and exergy flows.Read moreRead less
Evaluating potential static liquefaction of tailings to prevent failures. This project aims to reduce risk in the mining industry from failing mine tailings by producing a methodology for predicting the susceptibility of these tailings to static liquefaction. The impact of a mine tailing failure is catastrophic to the downstream community. The project brings together a number of industry partners committed to assisting with verification and adoption of characterisation and designed tools develop ....Evaluating potential static liquefaction of tailings to prevent failures. This project aims to reduce risk in the mining industry from failing mine tailings by producing a methodology for predicting the susceptibility of these tailings to static liquefaction. The impact of a mine tailing failure is catastrophic to the downstream community. The project brings together a number of industry partners committed to assisting with verification and adoption of characterisation and designed tools development in this project. This proposal will integrate results from laboratory element, centrifuge and calibration chamber tests with numerical modelling and in-situ tests to produce a methodology for predicting the susceptibility to static liquefaction.Read moreRead less
Long-term acid rock and tailings drainage mitigation through source control. Effective long-term management of acid rock drainage (ARD) from sulfidic mine wastes in current, exhausted and legacy mine sites is of critical importance to communities and for sustainable mining. An optimised geochemical and microbial multi-barrier approach to long-term reduction of ARD to environmentally acceptable rates will be developed by this project.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100225
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Multi-dimensional, high speed laser imaging facility for fluids and combustion. New high-speed laser diagnostics facilities will be established to enable Australian researchers to perform unique, real time measurements in combustion systems. Such novel capabilities will advance the science of combustion and facilitate the development of design tools for the optimisation of clean and efficient energy conversion devices.
Accelerating Consolidation and Closure of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. All mining operations involve the production of waste. Many regard such waste (tailings) and their environmentally acceptable storage as constituting the largest waste problem on Earth because of the enormous damage and loss-of-life that have resulted from failures of tailings storage facilities. This project focuses on a dewatering technology, electro-osmosis (EO), which has yet to be fully operationalised, for improvin ....Accelerating Consolidation and Closure of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. All mining operations involve the production of waste. Many regard such waste (tailings) and their environmentally acceptable storage as constituting the largest waste problem on Earth because of the enormous damage and loss-of-life that have resulted from failures of tailings storage facilities. This project focuses on a dewatering technology, electro-osmosis (EO), which has yet to be fully operationalised, for improving the strength, stability and settlement characteristics of the tailings. Sophisticated testing will be undertaken at three scales (lab, meso and, most importantly, field), as well as the development of generic numerical models, to create practical guidelines to facilitate the implementation of EO in mines around the world.Read moreRead less