Avoiding cryogenic solids formation in liquefied natural gas production. This project will determine how and under what conditions cryogenic hydrocarbon solids form during liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, which often cause expensive unplanned plant shutdowns. New sensors will be developed to understand and monitor the conditions which cause these blockages and will be deployed into LNG plants to avoid the critical conditions.
Mitigation of silica nanoparticle scaling in water treatment. This project aims to develop strategies to mitigate silica scaling at coal seam gas (CSG) water treatment facilities. CSG is adsorbed to the surface of coal along fractures and cleats and released when pressure is reduced by removal of groundwater, which has chemistry specific to the region from which it is extracted. Desalination of produced water is severely impacted by mineral scaling on reverse osmosis membranes. This project will ....Mitigation of silica nanoparticle scaling in water treatment. This project aims to develop strategies to mitigate silica scaling at coal seam gas (CSG) water treatment facilities. CSG is adsorbed to the surface of coal along fractures and cleats and released when pressure is reduced by removal of groundwater, which has chemistry specific to the region from which it is extracted. Desalination of produced water is severely impacted by mineral scaling on reverse osmosis membranes. This project will consider silica and silica-rich nanoparticles in concert with cations and organics, with the aim of better managing cations so to facilitate nanoparticle lubrication. Project outcomes may include more productive use of assets, improved pre-treatment infrastructure to support reverse osmosis operation, and the environmental benefits of reduced chemical waste and increased water recovery.Read moreRead less
Desalting reclaimed wastewater to safeguard Virginia's horticultural industries. Virginia is a major horticultural region of South Australia undergoing rapid expansion. Groundwater resources are depleted and reclaimed sewage effluent from Adelaide is required for irrigation. Unfortunately, the effluent is frequently too saline. Large-scale desalting is being considered. A pilot-scale plant will be built to evaluate suitable desalting processes (e.g. reverse osmosis) for reducing the effluent ....Desalting reclaimed wastewater to safeguard Virginia's horticultural industries. Virginia is a major horticultural region of South Australia undergoing rapid expansion. Groundwater resources are depleted and reclaimed sewage effluent from Adelaide is required for irrigation. Unfortunately, the effluent is frequently too saline. Large-scale desalting is being considered. A pilot-scale plant will be built to evaluate suitable desalting processes (e.g. reverse osmosis) for reducing the effluent's salt content. Original research will: (i) synthesize the best combination of technologies to produce effluent streams of varying salinity for matching different crop requirements; and (ii) optimise delivery and storage of effluent streams using new storage(s) and the region's multiple aquifer and surface storages.Read moreRead less
Desalination Options for Metropolitan Adelaide's Water Supply & Implications for Water Resource Allocation to Regional Communities. This project will present a proposal for water supply augmentation by desalination to alleviate rising salinity concerns and supply uncertainty of River Murray water supplies to metropolitan Adelaide in South Australia. It will investigate the feasibility of desalination options available and their consequences for regional agriculture and industry that rely on rive ....Desalination Options for Metropolitan Adelaide's Water Supply & Implications for Water Resource Allocation to Regional Communities. This project will present a proposal for water supply augmentation by desalination to alleviate rising salinity concerns and supply uncertainty of River Murray water supplies to metropolitan Adelaide in South Australia. It will investigate the feasibility of desalination options available and their consequences for regional agriculture and industry that rely on river water from metropolitan water supply pipelines for their economic survival. The project outcomes will have significant implications for government water policies and private and public sector water-infrastructure investment. It will be the first detailed study of large-scale municipal desalting costs under Australian conditions.Read moreRead less
Extraction of flavour enhancers, antimicrobials and nutraceuticals from olive mill effluent. The project aims to recover valuable materials from olive mill waste. Natural flavours will be recovered from the wastewater and from the dry pomice after oil extraction. The research and development will see these flavour compounds added back to olive oil to enhance the flavours of bland oils and to increase the shelf life of olive oil. The same compounds also have uses as enhancing the flavours of food ....Extraction of flavour enhancers, antimicrobials and nutraceuticals from olive mill effluent. The project aims to recover valuable materials from olive mill waste. Natural flavours will be recovered from the wastewater and from the dry pomice after oil extraction. The research and development will see these flavour compounds added back to olive oil to enhance the flavours of bland oils and to increase the shelf life of olive oil. The same compounds also have uses as enhancing the flavours of foods in general and provide a source of naturally occurring antioxidants. The compounds will be tested as natural antibiotics as a means of controlling fungal infections in vineyards and in vegetable production. Read moreRead less
Electrochemical biosensors for detection of cardiac disease markers in blood. Cardiovascular diseases leading to heart failure have a prevalence of over 16 per cent in Australia. The social, economic and health burden is higher than for any other disease group. Hence, it is critically important to develop fit-for-purpose sensors of known cardiac biomarkers, which alert patients and clinicians of the risk of imminent heart failure.
Running Hot: Increasing the Availability of World-Class Precision Timing . Precision clocks are a key enabler for many important technologies including navigation, radar, distributed computing and communications. Unfortunately, the very best clocks are currently bulky and very expensive. This project will take Australia’s multi-award winning sapphire clock technology and transform it so that its unmatched performance is available from a unit with an order of magnitude smaller size, power consum ....Running Hot: Increasing the Availability of World-Class Precision Timing . Precision clocks are a key enabler for many important technologies including navigation, radar, distributed computing and communications. Unfortunately, the very best clocks are currently bulky and very expensive. This project will take Australia’s multi-award winning sapphire clock technology and transform it so that its unmatched performance is available from a unit with an order of magnitude smaller size, power consumption and cost. This transformation will be driven on the back of a patented revolutionary step that allows operation of the sapphire clock at higher cryogenic temperatures. The new clock will have a wider range of applications delivering more computational power, higher bandwidth transmissions and better radar. Read moreRead less
Hierarchically porous polymer monoliths for separation science. Understanding the molecular composition of biomarkers involved in cell-cell communication and the fate of nanoparticles in the environment is critical to improve our understanding of diseases and environmental processes. This project will develop a new approach for the design of separation media that will greatly improve the efficiency of techniques used to analyse these complex samples. The separation media will consist of a polyme ....Hierarchically porous polymer monoliths for separation science. Understanding the molecular composition of biomarkers involved in cell-cell communication and the fate of nanoparticles in the environment is critical to improve our understanding of diseases and environmental processes. This project will develop a new approach for the design of separation media that will greatly improve the efficiency of techniques used to analyse these complex samples. The separation media will consist of a polymer containing large flow-through pores as well as well-defined mesopores. This dual porous skeleton will allow for the size-based separation of biomarkers and nanoparticles. The new separation media will enable the development of new technologies with applications in areas such medicine and environmental science.Read moreRead less
Telematics: Research & Development of Mobile Link for Telemedicine. This project is aimed at producing a reliable mobile video link between ambulance and hospital. In an emergency situation, video footage greatly assists the medical team in accurate deployment of resources to save lives. Motorola will be the industrial partner and this mobile telemedicine project fits into their telematics core business area. Together with Motorola, we will investigate video coding schemes, protocols and network ....Telematics: Research & Development of Mobile Link for Telemedicine. This project is aimed at producing a reliable mobile video link between ambulance and hospital. In an emergency situation, video footage greatly assists the medical team in accurate deployment of resources to save lives. Motorola will be the industrial partner and this mobile telemedicine project fits into their telematics core business area. Together with Motorola, we will investigate video coding schemes, protocols and network issues, to produce a commercially viable software/hardware solution. The outcome will be a working testbed that can be trialed at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The IP generated will benefit Motorola's telematics directive and training will generate a potentially useful future employee.Read moreRead less
Multi-channel reconfigurable high dynamic range digital receivers. Wireless communication systems have important defence and commercial applications, most obviously in the form of the mobile telephone network. Future wireless systems will require much higher levels of performance, in the form of ability to receive and distinguish signals from multiple sources that are physically close together and transmit on similar frequencies.
In this project we will develop a test system that will allow us ....Multi-channel reconfigurable high dynamic range digital receivers. Wireless communication systems have important defence and commercial applications, most obviously in the form of the mobile telephone network. Future wireless systems will require much higher levels of performance, in the form of ability to receive and distinguish signals from multiple sources that are physically close together and transmit on similar frequencies.
In this project we will develop a test system that will allow us to undertake research on new algorithms that will achieve these higher levels of performance. Our objective is to demonstrate dramatic improvements in the capabilities of receivers for future generation mobile phone and defence surveillance systems.
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