Drying sewage sludge using hot oil. The project seeks to investigate and develop an entirely new area of fundamental and applied research involving the process, mechanisms and kinetics of direct dehydration of sewage sludge by fry-drying in hot oil. Frying can be carried out as a drying process, though it not widely recognized or applied in this way, and has consequently not been exploited outside of the traditional food industries. It potentially provides a wide range of significant benefits ....Drying sewage sludge using hot oil. The project seeks to investigate and develop an entirely new area of fundamental and applied research involving the process, mechanisms and kinetics of direct dehydration of sewage sludge by fry-drying in hot oil. Frying can be carried out as a drying process, though it not widely recognized or applied in this way, and has consequently not been exploited outside of the traditional food industries. It potentially provides a wide range of significant benefits for sludge drying, including high efficiency and low costs, and produces a non-offensive product with a high energy value suitable for (renewable) power generation.Read moreRead less
Microfluidics with core-shell beads: handling liquids like solids. Reducing waste of consumables in chemical reactions promises to solve environmental problems as well as enable novel applications in space. This project aims to establish a revolutionary fluid handling technology that lowers waste in the labs and in satellites. The project deciphers the fundamental physics behind our recent discovery of encapsulating a tiny liquid content in a solid shell, allowing for handling liquid samples lik ....Microfluidics with core-shell beads: handling liquids like solids. Reducing waste of consumables in chemical reactions promises to solve environmental problems as well as enable novel applications in space. This project aims to establish a revolutionary fluid handling technology that lowers waste in the labs and in satellites. The project deciphers the fundamental physics behind our recent discovery of encapsulating a tiny liquid content in a solid shell, allowing for handling liquid samples like solid particles. Examples of the benefit of this project are more precise detection of bacteria on earth and compact reactors in space. The research outcomes are instrumental for promoting a clean environment, good health, and creating new business opportunities, particularly in space industry, for Australians.Read moreRead less
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
Next generation core-shell materials based on biomolecular dual-templating. This project aims to discover and develop new methods and knowledge for the precision engineering of next-generation core-shell materials using sustainable biomolecular dual-templating processes. This research builds on a recent breakthrough - emulsion and biomimetic dual-templating technology for facile preparation of silica capsules, and is expected to revolutionise current approaches for making core-shell materials. S ....Next generation core-shell materials based on biomolecular dual-templating. This project aims to discover and develop new methods and knowledge for the precision engineering of next-generation core-shell materials using sustainable biomolecular dual-templating processes. This research builds on a recent breakthrough - emulsion and biomimetic dual-templating technology for facile preparation of silica capsules, and is expected to revolutionise current approaches for making core-shell materials. Significant outcomes are expected to be achieved through building fundamental understanding around this breakthrough, including new concepts for hierarchical nanomaterials based on biomolecular design, new molecular and engineering design rules for core-shell materials, and novel materials for applications in sustained release and delivery systems.Read moreRead less
Development of a Trickle Filter for Treating Sour Water from Oil Shale Processing Plants. Oil is extracted from oil shale by pyrolysing pre-dried crushed shale. Despite drying , the shale retains a residual moisture level of approximately 5% which ultimately ends up as an aqueous phase in the condensate stream from the pyrolysis process. This aqueous phase, know as sour water, contains a range of organic compounds, including carboxylic acids, nitorgen heterocyclics and ketones. This aim of thi ....Development of a Trickle Filter for Treating Sour Water from Oil Shale Processing Plants. Oil is extracted from oil shale by pyrolysing pre-dried crushed shale. Despite drying , the shale retains a residual moisture level of approximately 5% which ultimately ends up as an aqueous phase in the condensate stream from the pyrolysis process. This aqueous phase, know as sour water, contains a range of organic compounds, including carboxylic acids, nitorgen heterocyclics and ketones. This aim of this proposal is to develop trickle filters to treat the sour water. The biofilms that develop in trickle filters are ideal for supporting slow growing microbial species. Research is needed to transfer native microorganisms in the oil shale desposit to the durable gravels that will be used in the filter.Read moreRead less
Low emission iron and steelmaking using hydrogen to pre-reduce lump ore. This project aims to develop and apply a new route of lump iron ore pre-reduction with hydrogen or H2-enriched gases for ironmaking to minimise CO2 emission from steel production. The route will be built up on the base of H2 reduction kinetics of iron ore and with novel technologies such as CO2 recycle and H2-heating using hot blast, underpinning the hydrogen economy by addressing the environmental concerns in mineral and s ....Low emission iron and steelmaking using hydrogen to pre-reduce lump ore. This project aims to develop and apply a new route of lump iron ore pre-reduction with hydrogen or H2-enriched gases for ironmaking to minimise CO2 emission from steel production. The route will be built up on the base of H2 reduction kinetics of iron ore and with novel technologies such as CO2 recycle and H2-heating using hot blast, underpinning the hydrogen economy by addressing the environmental concerns in mineral and steel industries. It is not only significant for low-carbon steel production, but also for better fundamental understanding to develop the future zero-emission iron and steelmaking with hydrogen. The project will be very beneficent because it increases the use of lump iron ore and expends Australian export of iron ores.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR180100016
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$880,187.00
Summary
A skid-based transportable plant for PFAS contaminated site remediation. This project aims to develop a self contained skid-based transportable process for onsite destruction of per- and poly-fluroalkyl substances (PFAS) toxins at contaminated sites. The new technologies developed will span a range of application areas, although remediation of sites contaminated with PFAS by ongoing or legacy use of fire-fighting foams is a key target for this project. The process is expected to enable remediati ....A skid-based transportable plant for PFAS contaminated site remediation. This project aims to develop a self contained skid-based transportable process for onsite destruction of per- and poly-fluroalkyl substances (PFAS) toxins at contaminated sites. The new technologies developed will span a range of application areas, although remediation of sites contaminated with PFAS by ongoing or legacy use of fire-fighting foams is a key target for this project. The process is expected to enable remediation of these sites by completely converting all toxins into safe products such as carbon dioxide and harmless salts. This project will deliver significant benefits, as the process is easily scalable and is intended to form the basis of a new or expanded remediation industry in Australia, resulting in manufacturing growth, job opportunities and significant impacts in terms of environmental safety and quality.Read moreRead less
Improving the processing of low quality iron ores by the modification of particle interactions. This project is aimed at modifying particle interactions to selectively stabilise or destabilise minerals during grinding and subsequent separation of low quality iron ores. The project will lead to improving grinding energy efficiency, increasing iron mineral production and reducing the impact of iron ore tailings on health and environment.
Engineering floating liquid marbles for three-dimensional cell cultures. This project aims to understand the physics of three-dimensional cell cultures in a liquid marble floating on a liquid free surface. New methodology developed can produce these cell cultures without using matrices or scaffolds and with run-times well beyond existing technologies. This methodology closely mimics a normal in-vivo environment and produces spheroids needed in cell transplantation therapies. This project will re ....Engineering floating liquid marbles for three-dimensional cell cultures. This project aims to understand the physics of three-dimensional cell cultures in a liquid marble floating on a liquid free surface. New methodology developed can produce these cell cultures without using matrices or scaffolds and with run-times well beyond existing technologies. This methodology closely mimics a normal in-vivo environment and produces spheroids needed in cell transplantation therapies. This project will resolve uncertainties in the underlying phenomena. The expected outcome should support future high quality cell cultures suitable for transplantation therapies.Read moreRead less
Plasma-Catalytist Hybrid Process for Simultaneous Removal of NOx and SOx. Coal combustion provides over 80% of the electricity produced in Australia, with the power stations being major emitters of the pollutants NOx and SOx. This project will potentially lead to a new technology to simultaneously remove NOx and SOx in a single and economical process, eliminating the secondary waste streams that disadvantage current competing technologies. This will provide: significant environmental benefits f ....Plasma-Catalytist Hybrid Process for Simultaneous Removal of NOx and SOx. Coal combustion provides over 80% of the electricity produced in Australia, with the power stations being major emitters of the pollutants NOx and SOx. This project will potentially lead to a new technology to simultaneously remove NOx and SOx in a single and economical process, eliminating the secondary waste streams that disadvantage current competing technologies. This will provide: significant environmental benefits for Australia in reducing these dangerous atmospheric pollutants; economic advantage to our power stations by enabling cheaper, more efficient technologies and consolidate Australia's leading position in the world in air pollution control. Read moreRead less