Thermal isolation: a novel pathway to transforming complex waste. This project aims to establish a novel pathway for transforming complex waste otherwise destined for landfill into valuable products and resources. By leveraging high temperature reactions, the team plans to thermally isolate useful carbons and silica from within automotive shredder residue (ASR) in situ, to produce activated carbon products and silica layers, and so completely recycle this bulk toxic waste for the first time. Suc ....Thermal isolation: a novel pathway to transforming complex waste. This project aims to establish a novel pathway for transforming complex waste otherwise destined for landfill into valuable products and resources. By leveraging high temperature reactions, the team plans to thermally isolate useful carbons and silica from within automotive shredder residue (ASR) in situ, to produce activated carbon products and silica layers, and so completely recycle this bulk toxic waste for the first time. Such innovative new pathways for separating out valuable materials from complex and toxic wastes offer industries an alternative low-cost and sustainable source of raw materials, while reducing pressures on landfills and finite natural resources.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100661
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,551.00
Summary
Nanoparticle with Metal Organic Framework for Lithium Recovery from Brine. The project aims to develop technology enabling lithium to be cost-effectively extracted from brine. Today Australia meets the increasing demand for lithium by mining hardrock lithium, an environmentally damaging activity. An alternative is to source lithium from brine produced as industrial wastewater (in desalination or shale gas production). The main challenge that brine presents to selectively extracting lithium is co ....Nanoparticle with Metal Organic Framework for Lithium Recovery from Brine. The project aims to develop technology enabling lithium to be cost-effectively extracted from brine. Today Australia meets the increasing demand for lithium by mining hardrock lithium, an environmentally damaging activity. An alternative is to source lithium from brine produced as industrial wastewater (in desalination or shale gas production). The main challenge that brine presents to selectively extracting lithium is competing ions. By advancing knowledge of nanomaterials and membrane distillation, the project expects to overcome both this technical challenge and other practical challenges. From wastewater, the anticipated system will produce additional clean water and a valuable commodity that can offset the cost of water treatment. Read moreRead less
Disassembly Automation of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries. This project aims to develop an automated disassembly solution for End-of-Life (EOL) Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries, which is flexible and modular to handle the uncertainties associated with model changes, condition of the EOL battery packs as well as the projected volume growth. The outcome of this project will lead to a better separation of EV battery components and materials. This will allow recycling of EOL EV batteries with ....Disassembly Automation of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries. This project aims to develop an automated disassembly solution for End-of-Life (EOL) Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries, which is flexible and modular to handle the uncertainties associated with model changes, condition of the EOL battery packs as well as the projected volume growth. The outcome of this project will lead to a better separation of EV battery components and materials. This will allow recycling of EOL EV batteries with a higher material recovery efficiency and a lower cost due to the significantly reduced labor cost; hence substantially reduce the environmental footprint associated with EOL treatment of these batteries.Read moreRead less
Algal control using multi-functional, cold plasma activated microbubbles . Climate change is driving a proliferation of nuisance and harmful algal blooms in our water supply systems, which urgently require cost efficient and effective control strategies. Paradoxically, algal biotechnology is a growth industry with application in food, agriculture and energy; realising this potential requires state-of-the-art technology to optimise production, harvesting and extraction. The aim of this proposal i ....Algal control using multi-functional, cold plasma activated microbubbles . Climate change is driving a proliferation of nuisance and harmful algal blooms in our water supply systems, which urgently require cost efficient and effective control strategies. Paradoxically, algal biotechnology is a growth industry with application in food, agriculture and energy; realising this potential requires state-of-the-art technology to optimise production, harvesting and extraction. The aim of this proposal is to develop cutting edge technology that uses cold plasma activated microbubbles to control algal populations. We propose that by tuning the plasma composition, this technology could both selectively disrupt and destroy algal matter and enhance algal cell growth, benefiting both water and biotechnology industries. Read moreRead less
Ultrathin membranes of novel structures for highly efficient water reuse. This project aims to develop a new generation of reverse osmosis membranes to enable significantly more efficient water reuse. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of membrane technology and wastewater reclamation using innovative designs of membrane structures and new techniques for membrane synthesis. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of highly permeable and high selective reve ....Ultrathin membranes of novel structures for highly efficient water reuse. This project aims to develop a new generation of reverse osmosis membranes to enable significantly more efficient water reuse. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of membrane technology and wastewater reclamation using innovative designs of membrane structures and new techniques for membrane synthesis. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of highly permeable and high selective reverse osmosis membranes. This project should provide significant benefits to water reuse by greatly improving product water quality and dramatically reducing its energy consumption by over 50 per cent, which in turn addresses the challenges of water scarcity and water-energy nexus.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100694
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Building resilience in wastewater infrastructure with self-healing bioconcrete. This project aims to develop a microbial self-healing bio-concrete to extend the service life of wastewater collection and treatment facilities. Water utilities worldwide struggle with asset management, because global warming and extreme weather age and corrode concrete infrastructure. This project will use microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation by bacteria to treat wastewater. The bacteria, added to bio ....Building resilience in wastewater infrastructure with self-healing bioconcrete. This project aims to develop a microbial self-healing bio-concrete to extend the service life of wastewater collection and treatment facilities. Water utilities worldwide struggle with asset management, because global warming and extreme weather age and corrode concrete infrastructure. This project will use microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation by bacteria to treat wastewater. The bacteria, added to bio-concrete, can fill cracks or reseal corroded areas by using organic substrates from wastewater to generate concrete, thus maintaining structural strength and preventing further damage. This project is expected to enhance the resilience and sustainability of wastewater infrastructure in ever more demanding environments.Read moreRead less
Intracellular manufacturing - high performance biomaterials from methane. The aim of this project is to produce high performance biodegradable polymers directly from methane. The key innovation is employing cutting-edge community genomic and transcriptomic approaches to characterise intracellular production lines in order to tailor polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) copolymer microstructures. This is a truly multidisciplinary project bringing together engineers, polymer scientists and molecu ....Intracellular manufacturing - high performance biomaterials from methane. The aim of this project is to produce high performance biodegradable polymers directly from methane. The key innovation is employing cutting-edge community genomic and transcriptomic approaches to characterise intracellular production lines in order to tailor polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) copolymer microstructures. This is a truly multidisciplinary project bringing together engineers, polymer scientists and molecular biologists. It is expected that a direct outcome of the project will be the first PHBV copolymer from methane. As such, the project aims to develop technology for the production of tough, flexible and affordable biopolymers and, at the same time, provide an opportunity to add value to methane.Read moreRead less
Engineering defect-intensive ozonation catalysts to degrade micropollutants. This project aims to engineer unique particles containing defect-intensive surfaces which are designed to accelerate the catalytic ozonation of waters contaminated with pharmaceuticals and other recalcitrant pollutants. This will enable timely treatment of industrial waste water as well as sewerage treatment plant effluents using simple and cheap catalyst materials. Wet- and flame-based particle fabrication technologies ....Engineering defect-intensive ozonation catalysts to degrade micropollutants. This project aims to engineer unique particles containing defect-intensive surfaces which are designed to accelerate the catalytic ozonation of waters contaminated with pharmaceuticals and other recalcitrant pollutants. This will enable timely treatment of industrial waste water as well as sewerage treatment plant effluents using simple and cheap catalyst materials. Wet- and flame-based particle fabrication technologies paired with unique post-synthesis treatment strategies, including either a coupled hydrogenation-illumination approach or plasma exposure, will be implemented for defect manipulation so as to produce new cheaper, stable, and higher-performing catalysts for activating ozone to treat water containing pharmaceutical and endocrine disrupting micro-pollutants under different process conditions.Read moreRead less
Sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from carbon dioxide. This project intends to deliver a cost-effective efficient bioelectrochemical process converting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into chemicals and fuels. Microbes are fascinating organisms giving us cheese, beer and wine. A special group of bacteria is even able to produce electricity from waste materials, or eat electricity to convert CO2 emissions into chemicals. This process has the potential to dramatically improve the sustai ....Sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from carbon dioxide. This project intends to deliver a cost-effective efficient bioelectrochemical process converting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into chemicals and fuels. Microbes are fascinating organisms giving us cheese, beer and wine. A special group of bacteria is even able to produce electricity from waste materials, or eat electricity to convert CO2 emissions into chemicals. This process has the potential to dramatically improve the sustainability of future chemical industry and environmental biotechnology. It has been shown that acetate, an important precursor in the chemical industry, can be produced in laboratory-scale reactors using selected microbial communities. The goal of the project is to engineer a process able to produce a broad range of biochemicals and biofuels from CO2 at high rates and high product concentrations.Read moreRead less
Removal and degradation of microplastics using halloysite nanocomposite. The project aims to utilize halloysite clay combined with novel highly magnetized nanoparticles for the removal and degradation of microplastics in the contaminated water system. The project expects to fabricate cheap and environmentally-friendly materials using innovative chemical synthesis and surface modification for adsorption and decomposition of microplastics utilizing both high surface area of halloysite nanotubes a ....Removal and degradation of microplastics using halloysite nanocomposite. The project aims to utilize halloysite clay combined with novel highly magnetized nanoparticles for the removal and degradation of microplastics in the contaminated water system. The project expects to fabricate cheap and environmentally-friendly materials using innovative chemical synthesis and surface modification for adsorption and decomposition of microplastics utilizing both high surface area of halloysite nanotubes and catalytic activity of transition metals. This project will facilitate collaboration between multidisciplinary researchers and a vibrant group of industrial participants to advance next-generation composite materials for water treatment and ensure the supply of clean water for healthy living.Read moreRead less