Development of Reliability Driven Rural Electricity Supply. Australia is sparsely populated with SWER systems covering a large part of the rural supply. It is expected that a portion of the population will move to some areas of semi-urban/rural areas as the cost of housing and land will be cheaper in these regions. This will result in the development of new townships. In addition the growth in air conditioners and other electrical goods is leading to a rise in consumption per customer which is o ....Development of Reliability Driven Rural Electricity Supply. Australia is sparsely populated with SWER systems covering a large part of the rural supply. It is expected that a portion of the population will move to some areas of semi-urban/rural areas as the cost of housing and land will be cheaper in these regions. This will result in the development of new townships. In addition the growth in air conditioners and other electrical goods is leading to a rise in consumption per customer which is occurring across all parts of the country not just in 'green change' areas. With this scenario in mind, the aim of this project is to plan for rural electricity supply that can have a defined reliability, with a potential for a performance that can be designed to approach that of urban centers.Read moreRead less
Clean fuels for the future: Scale up and optimisation of microalgal oil production and biodiesel synthesis. The development of renewable carbon-neutral fuels is an urgent challenge facing our society. This project aims to develop an innovative system for biodiesel production from local Australian algae species. If cultivated under the right conditions, microalgae are very efficient near-continuous producers of biodiesel and are likely the only renewable source of fuel that could match our curren ....Clean fuels for the future: Scale up and optimisation of microalgal oil production and biodiesel synthesis. The development of renewable carbon-neutral fuels is an urgent challenge facing our society. This project aims to develop an innovative system for biodiesel production from local Australian algae species. If cultivated under the right conditions, microalgae are very efficient near-continuous producers of biodiesel and are likely the only renewable source of fuel that could match our current and future demand without competing for arable land and food production. Such systems couple the national/community benefits of energy generation, carbon-capture, biodiesel production and the clean-up of wastewater. Successful outcomes from this project will bring this innovative technology closer to commercial reality. Read moreRead less
Second generation biofuels: developing environmentally friendly high-efficiency microalgae for biofuel production. The development of CO2-neutral (biodiesel) and CO2-free (hydrogen) fuels is an urgent challenge facing our society to combat climate change and protect against oil price shocks. Successful outcomes from this project will bring this innovative technology closer to commercial reality. The solar-powered microalgal systems being developed, offer a number of national/community benefits ....Second generation biofuels: developing environmentally friendly high-efficiency microalgae for biofuel production. The development of CO2-neutral (biodiesel) and CO2-free (hydrogen) fuels is an urgent challenge facing our society to combat climate change and protect against oil price shocks. Successful outcomes from this project will bring this innovative technology closer to commercial reality. The solar-powered microalgal systems being developed, offer a number of national/community benefits including
1. A high-efficiency frontier-technology for clean fuel production for the Australian and international market
2. A new process to desalinate water
3. Frontier technology to sequester atmospheric CO2
4. Frontier technologies for wealth generation in drought- or salinity-affected and naturally arid regionsRead moreRead less
Supercomputer Simulation of Hot Fractured Rock Geothermal Reservoir Systems. The project aims to develop an advanced computational model to simulate fractured geomaterials for Hot Fractured Rock (HFR) geothermal energy exploitation in collaboration with Geodynamics Ltd which is developing Australia's first HFR field site. The site has enough stored energy to provide all Australia's energy needs for up to 70 years. The model has the potential to provide the predictive capacity for geothermal ener ....Supercomputer Simulation of Hot Fractured Rock Geothermal Reservoir Systems. The project aims to develop an advanced computational model to simulate fractured geomaterials for Hot Fractured Rock (HFR) geothermal energy exploitation in collaboration with Geodynamics Ltd which is developing Australia's first HFR field site. The site has enough stored energy to provide all Australia's energy needs for up to 70 years. The model has the potential to provide the predictive capacity for geothermal energy extraction required to successfully exploit the immense potential of HFR energy. The expected outcome is a new supercomputer simulation tool to aid in HFR energy facility design, construction, risk assessment and production that will help Australia become a world leader in the emerging worldwide HFR geothermal industry.Read moreRead less
Landfill Based Rapid Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Solid Waste. The rapid digestion of municipal solid waste has the potential to make putrescible landfills obsolete. Waste can be digested prior to landfilling, eliminating odour and the emission of methane. Pre-digestion is currently performed in highly mechanised in-vessel digesters in some European locations. Demonstations in our laboratory have shown similar digestion rates can be achieved in static beds. This technology can be feasibl ....Landfill Based Rapid Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Solid Waste. The rapid digestion of municipal solid waste has the potential to make putrescible landfills obsolete. Waste can be digested prior to landfilling, eliminating odour and the emission of methane. Pre-digestion is currently performed in highly mechanised in-vessel digesters in some European locations. Demonstations in our laboratory have shown similar digestion rates can be achieved in static beds. This technology can be feasibly scaled to digest waste streams of the size produced by Australian cities. The project will scale up this technology in a series of test cell trials at the Thiess Swanbank landfill near Ipswich, Queensland.Read moreRead less
Optimization of Transgene Expression in Sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important crops. However, worldwide competition and declining sugar prices threaten the long term economic sustainability of this industry unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Biotechnology holds the greatest promise for the development of an economically sustainable sugarcane industry through the production of varieties that can be used for cellulosic ethanol or as biofactories for high-valu ....Optimization of Transgene Expression in Sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important crops. However, worldwide competition and declining sugar prices threaten the long term economic sustainability of this industry unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Biotechnology holds the greatest promise for the development of an economically sustainable sugarcane industry through the production of varieties that can be used for cellulosic ethanol or as biofactories for high-value alternative products. In addition, cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane has the potential to substantially decrease the cost of biofuel production and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The research proposed here will advance our ability to improve sugarcane through biotechnology.Read moreRead less
eSorghum as a bio-fuel feedstock for arid environments. Increasing fuel costs, finite resources and the need to develop more carbon neutral and cleaner fuels have created a need for renewable sources. Ethanol and future generation biofuels (butanol and more energy-rich alcohols) can be extracted from biomass sources. Sorghum is an ideal bioenergy feedstock in the hotter, drier areas of Northern Australia, where starch (grain), sugar and lignocellulose (stover) can be amassed in this water effi ....eSorghum as a bio-fuel feedstock for arid environments. Increasing fuel costs, finite resources and the need to develop more carbon neutral and cleaner fuels have created a need for renewable sources. Ethanol and future generation biofuels (butanol and more energy-rich alcohols) can be extracted from biomass sources. Sorghum is an ideal bioenergy feedstock in the hotter, drier areas of Northern Australia, where starch (grain), sugar and lignocellulose (stover) can be amassed in this water efficient plant. Identifying and manipulating the genes to enable the improvement of sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy crop, will enable the increased efficiency of the Australian biofuels industry and create sustainable rural industries.Read moreRead less
Coals as methane bioreactors: significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas (CSG) production and carbon dioxide (CO2) geosequestration. Australian coal seam gas, for domestic and export use, potentially rivals coal mining in national wealth creation. This project aims to demonstrate that coal seams can function as bioreactors, using naturally present micro-organisms to generate methane. The methane could come from injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the coal, cr ....Coals as methane bioreactors: significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas (CSG) production and carbon dioxide (CO2) geosequestration. Australian coal seam gas, for domestic and export use, potentially rivals coal mining in national wealth creation. This project aims to demonstrate that coal seams can function as bioreactors, using naturally present micro-organisms to generate methane. The methane could come from injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the coal, creating a sustainable supply of clean burning gas by converting the CO2 into methane. A successful outcome will permit the reuse of wells and associated infrastructure, significantly increasing coal seam methane production and reserves, possibly several fold, as well as reducing the cost of their recovery. The project will investigate the geological, microbiological and engineering requirements to accomplish this.Read moreRead less
Minimization of emissions from dimethyl ether (DME) combustion in a diesel engine. The project works on the utilization of dimethyl ether, an innovative clean fuel produced from coal or natural gas, as a diesel substitute. The utilization of DME in diesel engines can potentially reduce the emissions by 90%, making it possible to meet the strictest engine standard. In the meantime the engine efficiency can be improved. The outcomes of the project will help accelarate the maturity of the DME mark ....Minimization of emissions from dimethyl ether (DME) combustion in a diesel engine. The project works on the utilization of dimethyl ether, an innovative clean fuel produced from coal or natural gas, as a diesel substitute. The utilization of DME in diesel engines can potentially reduce the emissions by 90%, making it possible to meet the strictest engine standard. In the meantime the engine efficiency can be improved. The outcomes of the project will help accelarate the maturity of the DME market in Australia. Read moreRead less
Genetic transformation of the biodiesel producing tree legume Pongamia pinnata. In response to global climate change and the threat of declining reserves of fossil fuels, liquid fuels of the future are to be manufactured in greater proportion from sustainable biological resources. Pongamia, a native legume tree, has the potential to make a significantly positive impact on the emerging biofuels industry. As a legume Pongamia requires no nitrogen fertiliser, is not a food crop, and can grow well o ....Genetic transformation of the biodiesel producing tree legume Pongamia pinnata. In response to global climate change and the threat of declining reserves of fossil fuels, liquid fuels of the future are to be manufactured in greater proportion from sustainable biological resources. Pongamia, a native legume tree, has the potential to make a significantly positive impact on the emerging biofuels industry. As a legume Pongamia requires no nitrogen fertiliser, is not a food crop, and can grow well on marginal lands unlikely to be used for food crops. Improvement of Pongamia through the genetic tools developed in this project will provide an environmentally sustainable source of biodiesel long into the future.Read moreRead less