Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based ....Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based waste (including food, garden, paper, and wood) and fossil-fuel derived materials (plastics). Using an innovative and environmentally-sustainable catalytic process, the outcomes of this project are aimed alleviating Australia’s dependence on diesel fuel imports and better waste management solutions in Australia.Read moreRead less
Defining Fundamental Principles for the Design and Operation of Membrane Systems from Time-Varying Performance Analysis. To date, much of the process improvement for industrial application of membrane technology has revolved around polymer science based development of membrane materials and process and module changes resulting from the application of basic (often simplistic) engineering principles. While some future improvements may still come from these areas, the most dramatic advances are li ....Defining Fundamental Principles for the Design and Operation of Membrane Systems from Time-Varying Performance Analysis. To date, much of the process improvement for industrial application of membrane technology has revolved around polymer science based development of membrane materials and process and module changes resulting from the application of basic (often simplistic) engineering principles. While some future improvements may still come from these areas, the most dramatic advances are likely to be derived from the application of advanced engineering principles to this complex system. This project will integrate advanced CFD modelling and control principles for the design and operation of membrane systems in order to develop fundamental understanding that should lead to significant process improvements.Read moreRead less
Atomically thin membranes to transform chemical separations. Energy-efficient chemical separation is at the heart of modern resource and manufacturing industries, central to a prosperous and sustainable Australia. This project aims to develop next generation membrane technologies to transform chemical separations by employing recent breakthrough in materials discovery and nanofluidics. Expected outcomes include new fundamental understandings on sub-continuum transport physics and new atomically ....Atomically thin membranes to transform chemical separations. Energy-efficient chemical separation is at the heart of modern resource and manufacturing industries, central to a prosperous and sustainable Australia. This project aims to develop next generation membrane technologies to transform chemical separations by employing recent breakthrough in materials discovery and nanofluidics. Expected outcomes include new fundamental understandings on sub-continuum transport physics and new atomically thin membranes that enable energy-efficient separations for processing challenging streams beyond water purification. This project aims to position Australia at the forefront of sustainable separation technology and make the local resource and manufacturing industries more sustainable and globally competitive.Read moreRead less
Unlocking the catalytic activity of metal oxides through hybrid catalysis. This project aims to understand the interaction of light responsive nano-metals and metal oxide supports in photo-thermal catalysis, and channel light and heat to efficiently drive catalytic reactions. From this understanding, it will develop principles to activate the active site of metal oxides and control catalytic activity with high selectivity and stability. It will use this knowledge to selectively oxidate methane a ....Unlocking the catalytic activity of metal oxides through hybrid catalysis. This project aims to understand the interaction of light responsive nano-metals and metal oxide supports in photo-thermal catalysis, and channel light and heat to efficiently drive catalytic reactions. From this understanding, it will develop principles to activate the active site of metal oxides and control catalytic activity with high selectivity and stability. It will use this knowledge to selectively oxidate methane and oxidative coupling of methane reactions. The expected outcome is an inexpensive green catalysis method for chemical manufacture. This should lower the amount of waste, decrease energy consumption and improve human health, finite global resources and quality of life.Read moreRead less
Establishing the relationship between water characteristics and fouling of membranes used in water reuse. The project will result in the following significant benefits to the Australian and international partners: a state-of-the-art laboratory and semi-pilot system from which a full-scale system could be developed and tested, funded by the water industry; an outstanding research project for postgraduate students at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Gwangji Institute of Science and Tech ....Establishing the relationship between water characteristics and fouling of membranes used in water reuse. The project will result in the following significant benefits to the Australian and international partners: a state-of-the-art laboratory and semi-pilot system from which a full-scale system could be developed and tested, funded by the water industry; an outstanding research project for postgraduate students at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Gwangji Institute of Science and Technology, Korea (GIST) and Yale University; and fostering a culture of innovation in the wastewater industry in Australia, Korea and USA and contributing to the commercialization of research by UTS, GIST and YU.Read moreRead less
Fluidised bed biosorption-flocculation granular activated carbon (FBBSF-GAC) for membrane filtration in wastewater reuse. Water resource is limited and has been continuously decreasing. The idea of recycling and reusing of wastewater has been adopted for irrigation, industry and other non-potable uses. In Australia, wastewater reuse is now considered a key strategy for conserving water at national, state and local level. In this study, the proposed treatment unit is to produce a superior effluen ....Fluidised bed biosorption-flocculation granular activated carbon (FBBSF-GAC) for membrane filtration in wastewater reuse. Water resource is limited and has been continuously decreasing. The idea of recycling and reusing of wastewater has been adopted for irrigation, industry and other non-potable uses. In Australia, wastewater reuse is now considered a key strategy for conserving water at national, state and local level. In this study, the proposed treatment unit is to produce a superior effluent quality for water reuse while minimize membrane fouling of the membrane filtration system. Hence, it will benefit water industries globally and communities in Australia. There will be a major export opportunity from Australia to supply efficient, low-cost and sustainable flocculant together with an improved treatment system worldwide.Read moreRead less
Overcoming microplastics induced inhibition on waste-to-energy conversion . This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to achieve stable and efficient mitigation of emerging microplastics induced inhibition that is becoming a key barrier hindering waste-to-energy conversion in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a low-cost technology widely used to divert sewage sludge to renewable energy production. However, the increasing levels of microplastics ....Overcoming microplastics induced inhibition on waste-to-energy conversion . This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to achieve stable and efficient mitigation of emerging microplastics induced inhibition that is becoming a key barrier hindering waste-to-energy conversion in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a low-cost technology widely used to divert sewage sludge to renewable energy production. However, the increasing levels of microplastics captured in sludge leads to low methane yield and process failure due to their small size and specific characteristics. The outcome of the project will remove the emerging barrier to enhance energy recovery that can be applied in existing anaerobic digestion infrastructure for addressing Australia’s increasing energy demand.Read moreRead less
Hanging sponge aerobic bioreactor and membrane - adsorption hybrid system: a novel two stage system in wastewater reuse. A novel two-stage system consisting of a downflow hanging sponge biological reactor (DHS) and submerged membrane-adsorption hybrid system (SMAS) will be developed in this study. The DHS modified to incorporate solid separation and superior organics, and nitrogen removal will be an excellent pretreatment system that features minimum energy requirement and on sludge production. ....Hanging sponge aerobic bioreactor and membrane - adsorption hybrid system: a novel two stage system in wastewater reuse. A novel two-stage system consisting of a downflow hanging sponge biological reactor (DHS) and submerged membrane-adsorption hybrid system (SMAS) will be developed in this study. The DHS modified to incorporate solid separation and superior organics, and nitrogen removal will be an excellent pretreatment system that features minimum energy requirement and on sludge production. The post treatment of SMAS is to be studied to optimize aeration, biological activity on activated carbon will remove the remaining organics, solids, bacteria and majority of viruses. The developed hybrid system will be a cost- effective system in water reuse in small communities.Read moreRead less
Integration of Sponge Based Technology and Membrane Bioreactor: A Sustainable Treatment System for Water Recycling. Clean, safe water is becoming scarce in Australia. Recycling water is considered a promising solution to this growing problem. It is therefore important to develop sustainable treatment technologies for it. Integrating sponge-based technology and membrane bioreactor systems will solve the most challenging problem of membrane fouling while producing high quality of recycled water fr ....Integration of Sponge Based Technology and Membrane Bioreactor: A Sustainable Treatment System for Water Recycling. Clean, safe water is becoming scarce in Australia. Recycling water is considered a promising solution to this growing problem. It is therefore important to develop sustainable treatment technologies for it. Integrating sponge-based technology and membrane bioreactor systems will solve the most challenging problem of membrane fouling while producing high quality of recycled water from wastewater. The technology will maximize water resources, minimize waste and increase economic effectiveness and contributes direct benefits to the Nation in particular and to the world as a whole.Read moreRead less
An Optimal Integrated Immersed Membrane System as Pre-Treatment for Reverse Osmosis Desalination. This project will be useful for both coastal and inland areas of Australia. It will provide sustainable technology to meet the needs of water supply where the main sources are seawater and brackish water. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the dominant technology in water desalination and in the final polishing step in wastewater treatment for reuse. The novel pre-treatment proposed in this study is the key fo ....An Optimal Integrated Immersed Membrane System as Pre-Treatment for Reverse Osmosis Desalination. This project will be useful for both coastal and inland areas of Australia. It will provide sustainable technology to meet the needs of water supply where the main sources are seawater and brackish water. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the dominant technology in water desalination and in the final polishing step in wastewater treatment for reuse. The novel pre-treatment proposed in this study is the key for the cost-effective and energy efficient operation of RO. This project will strengthen research links among Australian, European and USA universities, to come up with a forefront pre-treatment technology for RO desalination. The technology is of direct benefit to ongoing RO installations in Australia and also has significant export potential.Read moreRead less