Short- and long-term mitigation strategies for acid and metalliferous drainage control from iron ore mine wastes. Acid and metalliferous drainage from mine wastes, caused by oxidation of sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite, are a critical environmental issue worldwide. Although options to retard sulfide oxidation exist, including encapsulation methods, chemical additives and inhibition of iron-oxidising bacteria, these suffer from long-term instability. The project aims to investigate mechanis ....Short- and long-term mitigation strategies for acid and metalliferous drainage control from iron ore mine wastes. Acid and metalliferous drainage from mine wastes, caused by oxidation of sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite, are a critical environmental issue worldwide. Although options to retard sulfide oxidation exist, including encapsulation methods, chemical additives and inhibition of iron-oxidising bacteria, these suffer from long-term instability. The project aims to investigate mechanistic approaches, using readily available mineralogical materials, to provide passivating conditions resulting in slowed oxidation rates. The project’s focus is on treatments for wastes from iron ore deposits which are of high economic significance to Australia. The outcome aims to be a treatment ‘pathway’ enabling practical waste rock treatment over the acid forming time-profile.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.
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC190100033
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,852,568.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource. This Centre aims to bring together Australia’s leading biosolids researchers and key industry and government stakeholders to advance the management, transformation and reuse of biosolids in agriculture. The focus is: 1) capability and knowledge building, 2) research development, extension and training, 3) sustainable strategic partnerships. The expected outcomes of the Centre are to develop a group of new, highly-trained i ....ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource. This Centre aims to bring together Australia’s leading biosolids researchers and key industry and government stakeholders to advance the management, transformation and reuse of biosolids in agriculture. The focus is: 1) capability and knowledge building, 2) research development, extension and training, 3) sustainable strategic partnerships. The expected outcomes of the Centre are to develop a group of new, highly-trained industry-ready researchers as well as advanced solutions in three major themes: improved technologies, enhanced products and sustainability. This will provide significant benefits in the economic value of new applications and market opportunities as well as deliver cost-savings – all in an environmentally friendly manner.Read moreRead less
Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understandi ....Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understanding T/O episodes, and will also benefit the aquaculture and food sectors, and the research community. An improved ability to manage geosmin in drinking water, will also have positive repercussions on the Australian environment, by eliminating the need to use environmentally controversial control methods such as copper sulphate dosing.
Read moreRead less
Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from South East Queensland waterways and influence of wastewater discharges. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most serious challenges facing mankind. Substantial emission reduction must be achieved, with responsibilities to be shared by all sectors. Rivers, estuaries and water storages contribute considerably to global nitrous oxide and methane emissions, much of which is anthropogenic contributed by urban and agricultural run-of ....Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from South East Queensland waterways and influence of wastewater discharges. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most serious challenges facing mankind. Substantial emission reduction must be achieved, with responsibilities to be shared by all sectors. Rivers, estuaries and water storages contribute considerably to global nitrous oxide and methane emissions, much of which is anthropogenic contributed by urban and agricultural run-off and wastewater discharges. Through an in-depth study on several rivers, estuaries and reservoirs in South East Queensland, this project will provide data to enable reliable estimation of such emissions in Australia, and deliver knowledge and tool support for the development of strategic catchment management strategies.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
Diffusion of manufactured high performance green houses: a mixed-methods management study of innovation obstacles. This project will improve the affordability and environmental impact of Australian housing, by increasing the rate of innovation activity within the industry. The project addresses this challenge by investigating the beliefs of builders that underpin their reticence to change. The findings are used to design educational responses to improve innovation rates.
Conservation of tropical forests for their carbon and biodiversity values. International efforts to save tropical forests for the carbon they store could help mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. This project will aid these efforts by developing methods to model future deforestation and extending decision theory for the new challenges presented by international carbon-payment schemes.
Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this projec ....Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this project will create cost-effective tools to advance the detection of emerging chemicals in drinking, ground, surface and waste waters. The technology will benefit millions of Australians by safeguarding essential water resources.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101207
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$334,000.00
Summary
Predicting fisheries change from cumulative impacts to aquatic habitats. This project intends to quantify the role that aquatic habitats play in fisheries, and to help identify where to restore degraded aquatic habitats. Fisheries are a globally important resource but their status is declining in many regions, often because of the loss of aquatic habitats. However, the role of habitat in fishery declines is poorly quantified, and new models are needed that integrate existing datasets to attribut ....Predicting fisheries change from cumulative impacts to aquatic habitats. This project intends to quantify the role that aquatic habitats play in fisheries, and to help identify where to restore degraded aquatic habitats. Fisheries are a globally important resource but their status is declining in many regions, often because of the loss of aquatic habitats. However, the role of habitat in fishery declines is poorly quantified, and new models are needed that integrate existing datasets to attribute change in a fishery to change in its habitats. The project aims to develop a new statistical analysis to examine the role of habitat loss in the global status of fisheries and how multiple human impacts to habitats affect fisheries, to decide how we can best protect aquatic habitats.Read moreRead less