Carbon nanotube fluidic channels for desalination - interplay of nanoscale confinement and electrostatics. Tiny tubes of carbon, ten thousand times smaller than human hair, allow water to pass through at extraordinary speed. This project aims to understand and improve their salt rejection properties using comprehensive experimental and theoretical approaches. This will provide the impetus and knowledge for developing advanced membranes for desalination
Transistor-based sensor technology for fast, reliable and accurate in situ monitoring of recycled wastewater. Water recycling is becoming critical for water supplies worldwide, due to declining natural supplies of fresh water, combined with increasing demand. The greatest community and industry concerns over recycled water are quality assurance and relative cost. Ensuring quality requires monitoring of contaminants, yet no single real-time technology exists to measure the myriad of potential con ....Transistor-based sensor technology for fast, reliable and accurate in situ monitoring of recycled wastewater. Water recycling is becoming critical for water supplies worldwide, due to declining natural supplies of fresh water, combined with increasing demand. The greatest community and industry concerns over recycled water are quality assurance and relative cost. Ensuring quality requires monitoring of contaminants, yet no single real-time technology exists to measure the myriad of potential contaminants. This project will develop technology using AlGaN/GaN-based transistors, sensitised to different contaminants, enabling multi-analyte real-time sensor arrays. In situ monitoring systems based on such arrays will be fast, accurate, reliable, low-cost, and applicable to a broad variety of water recycling projects.Read moreRead less
Impact of increased sediment and nutrient discharges on the long-term sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's greatest natural assets, is under increasing threat from extreme climatic events caused by global warming and from land-based pollution. This research will identify the main sources of sediment and nutrient pollution caused by river runoff and by how much this has increased above 'natural levels'. We will discover how the very sensitive offsho ....Impact of increased sediment and nutrient discharges on the long-term sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's greatest natural assets, is under increasing threat from extreme climatic events caused by global warming and from land-based pollution. This research will identify the main sources of sediment and nutrient pollution caused by river runoff and by how much this has increased above 'natural levels'. We will discover how the very sensitive offshore coral reefs have responded to increased pollution and whether this is the cause of the very devastating crown-of-thorn-starfish infestations. Understanding the long-term effects of land-based pollution on the ecology of coral reefs in the GBR will thus provide a scientific basis to help ensure that it has a sustainable future.Read moreRead less
Australian savannah landscapes: past, present and future. Australian savannahs are productive and culturally and biologically significant landscapes but are vulnerable to climate change. The project will determine savannah function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.
Holding coral reefs together with soluble cement. This project aims to characterise and understand cement formation in coral reefs. Coral reefs are constructed by cementing together aragonite building blocks made by corals. The main cementing agent is high-magnesium calcite, the most soluble carbonate mineral and susceptible to ocean acidification. High-magnesium calcite cements are best developed on the high energy margins of coral reefs. This project will quantify how crustose coralline algae ....Holding coral reefs together with soluble cement. This project aims to characterise and understand cement formation in coral reefs. Coral reefs are constructed by cementing together aragonite building blocks made by corals. The main cementing agent is high-magnesium calcite, the most soluble carbonate mineral and susceptible to ocean acidification. High-magnesium calcite cements are best developed on the high energy margins of coral reefs. This project will quantify how crustose coralline algae produces high-magnesium calcite and controls the dissolution and reprecipitation of high-magnesium cements. This project intends to quantify rates of reef cementation, susceptibility to ocean acidification and warming, and possible mitigating effects of alkalinity addition.Read moreRead less