Fundamental investigation of the briquetting behaviour of iron ore fines. Handling, including transport and processing, may account for up to 60 per cent of the total delivered price of iron ore. This project will develop an integrated computer model for an improved briquetting process of ore fines with reduced operation cost and less environmental impact, leading to a more competitive and sustainable mineral industry in Australia.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101567
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Adding value to wastewater treatment - ultrasound enhanced crystallisation. The difficulty of disposing of concentrated liquid wastes is forcing industries to reassess their waste treatment processes and strive for zero liquid discharge. This project will add value to industrial waste by improving extraction of purified water and valuable solutes from such concentrates by combining ultrasound with crystallisation processes.
Application of Water Based Fractionation in the Assessment of Metallurgical Coal. The metallurgical coal market (13% of coal market) is highly specialized, and competitive. The coal, which is utilized as a reducing agent in iron making, represents more than 52% of Australian coal exports. This study addresses growing evidence that organic liquids used to fractionate and in turn assess metallurgical coals lead to negative assessments, hence loss of markets, and lost opportunities. A new water bas ....Application of Water Based Fractionation in the Assessment of Metallurgical Coal. The metallurgical coal market (13% of coal market) is highly specialized, and competitive. The coal, which is utilized as a reducing agent in iron making, represents more than 52% of Australian coal exports. This study addresses growing evidence that organic liquids used to fractionate and in turn assess metallurgical coals lead to negative assessments, hence loss of markets, and lost opportunities. A new water based fractionation method will be established, and a systematic investigation into the effects of the organic liquids will be undertaken. These results will be used to build a case for replacing the organic liquids used in the industry, which are known to have negative health and environmental impacts. Read moreRead less
Economic Operability Assessment of Leaching Process at Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Process operability is concerned with systematic analysis and improvement of process performance in the face of variable operating conditions. This project will develop a rigorous methodology for analysis of process operability with respect to short-term and transient disturbances. The proposed technique will be applied to the Kwinana Nickel Refinery Leach section, in order to reduce the plant variability and increas ....Economic Operability Assessment of Leaching Process at Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Process operability is concerned with systematic analysis and improvement of process performance in the face of variable operating conditions. This project will develop a rigorous methodology for analysis of process operability with respect to short-term and transient disturbances. The proposed technique will be applied to the Kwinana Nickel Refinery Leach section, in order to reduce the plant variability and increase nickel throughput and plant availability. This can be considered as significant move by a process industry to embrace advanced theoretical developments and will act as a benchmark to promote future links between Australian industry and academia.Read moreRead less
WAVELET-BASED MODELLING AND MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF COMPLEX MULTIDIMENSIONAL CRYSTALLISATION PROCESSES. The results of this project will directly contribute to a better understanding of crystallisation which is an important unit operation to achieve high purity separations. Many Australian industries for example, mineral processing, sugar processing, pharmaceuticals, etc will benefit from the results in order to enhance optimal operation and control to ensure globally competitive production ....WAVELET-BASED MODELLING AND MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF COMPLEX MULTIDIMENSIONAL CRYSTALLISATION PROCESSES. The results of this project will directly contribute to a better understanding of crystallisation which is an important unit operation to achieve high purity separations. Many Australian industries for example, mineral processing, sugar processing, pharmaceuticals, etc will benefit from the results in order to enhance optimal operation and control to ensure globally competitive production which is on time, minimize wastes and raw materials and inventories. The leading edge results will increase the contributions of these industries to the Australian economy and our global competitiveness necessary to maintain our culture and the beauty of our environment. Read moreRead less
Low cost on-site on-demand cyanide production for gold mining. This project seeks a breakthrough in providing a new, low cost, low environmental impact approach for synthesis of on-site, on-demand cyanide for gold extraction. This will facilitate economic processing of lower grade ores and enhance resource life. Also, avoiding transport of bulk cyanide to remote mine sites will improve community safety.
Production and nano-characterisation of II-VI semiconductor quantum dots from plant cell cultures. Nanocrystallites with semiconductor properties have potential applications in medicine, microelectronics and waste treatment. Cheap, reliable methods for producing large quantities of monodisperse nanoparticles are required. Solution techniques have been used most commonly; however, production of stable, high-quality particles remains difficult. Biological synthesis using plant cell culture offers ....Production and nano-characterisation of II-VI semiconductor quantum dots from plant cell cultures. Nanocrystallites with semiconductor properties have potential applications in medicine, microelectronics and waste treatment. Cheap, reliable methods for producing large quantities of monodisperse nanoparticles are required. Solution techniques have been used most commonly; however, production of stable, high-quality particles remains difficult. Biological synthesis using plant cell culture offers several important advantages. As peptide capping is incorporated into the biological assembly process, the nanoparticles are restricted in size, their stability is improved, and their surfaces are passivated. Application of plant cultures for nanocrystallite production is a novel approach with the potential to yield significant improvements in the quality of manufactured quantum dots.Read moreRead less
Gravity Separation and Desliming of Fine Particles. This project will be of benefit to the Australian coal and mineral processing industries, worth tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy each year. The objective is to establish an innovative system of cascading Reflux Classifiers for achieving both gravity separation and desliming of fine particles. Presently millions of tonnes of fine coal exist in tailings dams, unrecoverable by existing technologies such as flotation. This rese ....Gravity Separation and Desliming of Fine Particles. This project will be of benefit to the Australian coal and mineral processing industries, worth tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy each year. The objective is to establish an innovative system of cascading Reflux Classifiers for achieving both gravity separation and desliming of fine particles. Presently millions of tonnes of fine coal exist in tailings dams, unrecoverable by existing technologies such as flotation. This research will provide options for the recovery of this resource, making the remediation of these sites economically viable. The project will also support the education and training of researchers in this field of importance to Australia’s future.Read moreRead less
Use of Parallel Inclined Channels to Enhance Foam Drainage in Ion Flotation. This study is concerned with increasing the rates of foam drainage in flotation processes. The findings will have direct benefit in the field of ion flotation, and will be highly relevant to the flotation of high value minerals worth tens of billions of dollars annually. The Reflux Classifier, a device that employs the Boycott Effect to achieve a significant increase in the effective area of the vessel, will be used. Th ....Use of Parallel Inclined Channels to Enhance Foam Drainage in Ion Flotation. This study is concerned with increasing the rates of foam drainage in flotation processes. The findings will have direct benefit in the field of ion flotation, and will be highly relevant to the flotation of high value minerals worth tens of billions of dollars annually. The Reflux Classifier, a device that employs the Boycott Effect to achieve a significant increase in the effective area of the vessel, will be used. This device has already attracted three national awards in the area of gravity concentration in mineral processing. The study is ideal for training new researchers, especially at the PhD level, given the importance of the field to Australia. Read moreRead less
Overcoming performance limiting chemistries in membrane distillation. This project aims to study performance limiting chemistries associated with fouling of solution-borne components on membrane surfaces that cause critical vapour pressure loss. Membrane distillation could be used for sustainable resource recovery, but no research has overcome the total loss of membrane water flux when removing water from saturated solutions where the critical resource recovery function occurs. This project will ....Overcoming performance limiting chemistries in membrane distillation. This project aims to study performance limiting chemistries associated with fouling of solution-borne components on membrane surfaces that cause critical vapour pressure loss. Membrane distillation could be used for sustainable resource recovery, but no research has overcome the total loss of membrane water flux when removing water from saturated solutions where the critical resource recovery function occurs. This project will characterise the physical and chemical properties of the flux limiting solid on the membrane surface, and the role of membrane chemistry and functional conditions in overcoming this limit. The outcomes of the work will provide innovative sustainable solutions to recover valuable products from current wastes.Read moreRead less