Energy Neutral Anthropogenic Nitrogen Management. This project aims to develop an innovative energy-neutral biological ammonium management strategy based on a novel anaerobic ammonia oxidation pathway. Ammonium-rich waste streams from urban and agricultural settings are a major cause of eutrophication and impose severe environmental burdens to human and ecological health. This project is expected to fundamentally change how we manage ammonium pollution, and will have immediate applicability to e ....Energy Neutral Anthropogenic Nitrogen Management. This project aims to develop an innovative energy-neutral biological ammonium management strategy based on a novel anaerobic ammonia oxidation pathway. Ammonium-rich waste streams from urban and agricultural settings are a major cause of eutrophication and impose severe environmental burdens to human and ecological health. This project is expected to fundamentally change how we manage ammonium pollution, and will have immediate applicability to engineered bioreactors systems. This will provide significant benefits in supporting a wide range of industries that struggle with finding affordable and net-zero ways to manage ammonium wastes, providing an important step to reach global net-zero carbon emissions.Read moreRead less
Microbial junk food: developing synthetic platforms for plastic degradation. This project aims to establish the genetic basis of polyethelene biodegradation (PED) by microbes from the gut microbiome of plastic-eating caterpillars. It will transform the active microbial PED genes into carefully designed synthetic microbes for efficient, safe and large-scale PED. The project will combine innovative functional microbial genetic tools and synthetic biology techniques with solid biochemistry and bioi ....Microbial junk food: developing synthetic platforms for plastic degradation. This project aims to establish the genetic basis of polyethelene biodegradation (PED) by microbes from the gut microbiome of plastic-eating caterpillars. It will transform the active microbial PED genes into carefully designed synthetic microbes for efficient, safe and large-scale PED. The project will combine innovative functional microbial genetic tools and synthetic biology techniques with solid biochemistry and bioinformatics to produce translatable synthetic platforms containing key genes optimised for efficient PE waste removal. The outcomes will have the potential to transform the relative ineffective and expensive current methods for PE disposal into flexible, cost-effective and sustainable solutions applicable to multiple sectors.Read moreRead less
Preventing mining disasters: reducing the risk of tailings dam failure. This project aims to improve safety of tailings storage facilities (TSFs). Mineral processing produces waste called tailings, being mixtures of water and soil-sized particles. Tailings are stored on sites contained by embankments made from soil or a coarse component of tailings. Sections of the TSFs are partially saturated, have high concentrations of fine particles and physically change with age. Their resistance to earthqu ....Preventing mining disasters: reducing the risk of tailings dam failure. This project aims to improve safety of tailings storage facilities (TSFs). Mineral processing produces waste called tailings, being mixtures of water and soil-sized particles. Tailings are stored on sites contained by embankments made from soil or a coarse component of tailings. Sections of the TSFs are partially saturated, have high concentrations of fine particles and physically change with age. Their resistance to earthquake loading and liquefaction, and strength post-earthquake, arising from these properties are poorly understood and can not be quantified reliably so will be addressed here. Anticipated outcomes will be updated industry guidelines for the design and management of TSFs. Mines will benefit and failures will be prevented.Read moreRead less
Atomically thin membranes to transform chemical separations. Energy-efficient chemical separation is at the heart of modern resource and manufacturing industries, central to a prosperous and sustainable Australia. This project aims to develop next generation membrane technologies to transform chemical separations by employing recent breakthrough in materials discovery and nanofluidics. Expected outcomes include new fundamental understandings on sub-continuum transport physics and new atomically ....Atomically thin membranes to transform chemical separations. Energy-efficient chemical separation is at the heart of modern resource and manufacturing industries, central to a prosperous and sustainable Australia. This project aims to develop next generation membrane technologies to transform chemical separations by employing recent breakthrough in materials discovery and nanofluidics. Expected outcomes include new fundamental understandings on sub-continuum transport physics and new atomically thin membranes that enable energy-efficient separations for processing challenging streams beyond water purification. This project aims to position Australia at the forefront of sustainable separation technology and make the local resource and manufacturing industries more sustainable and globally competitive.Read moreRead less
Het-Crete: High-Grade Chemical-Treated Heterogeneous Recycled Concrete. Of over 20 million tons of mixed construction and demolition waste generated annually, only 5% is recycled and less than 1% is adopted for low-grade construction activities. This innovative research aims to solve Australia’s mixed construction and demolition waste disposal problem and lower its greenhouse-gas emissions at the same time. The research develops Het-Gregate with novel chemical admixtures and greenhouse-gas emiss ....Het-Crete: High-Grade Chemical-Treated Heterogeneous Recycled Concrete. Of over 20 million tons of mixed construction and demolition waste generated annually, only 5% is recycled and less than 1% is adopted for low-grade construction activities. This innovative research aims to solve Australia’s mixed construction and demolition waste disposal problem and lower its greenhouse-gas emissions at the same time. The research develops Het-Gregate with novel chemical admixtures and greenhouse-gas emissions to create Het-Crete, with new mixing techniques for its an optimal performance high-grade concrete. Life-cycle analyses will be conducted to generate Het-Crete specifications for the industry. This will significantly elevate Australia’s world standing in recycled concrete research.Read moreRead less
Additive manufacturing of functionally graded geopolymers. This project aims to use contour crafting for three-dimensional printing of functionally graded geopolymer concrete. Contour crafting has been touted for producing uniform structural members made of conventional concrete mixtures. This project will develop the existing technique to produce microstructurally graded geopolymer structures and include functionally graded placement of fibre within a geopolymer matrix. It will investigate mech ....Additive manufacturing of functionally graded geopolymers. This project aims to use contour crafting for three-dimensional printing of functionally graded geopolymer concrete. Contour crafting has been touted for producing uniform structural members made of conventional concrete mixtures. This project will develop the existing technique to produce microstructurally graded geopolymer structures and include functionally graded placement of fibre within a geopolymer matrix. It will investigate mechanical, thermal and durability properties of printed composite structures. The outcome of this research could lead to cost-effective automated production of specialised structural components.Read moreRead less
A top-down approach to synthesising high-value fluorocarbons. Fluorocarbons' ability to impart high stability, solubility, and unique reactivity to host molecules renders them invaluable in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers and surfactants. Their robustness also renders them environmentally persistent. There are no industrially utilised methods for the re-purposing or recycling of fluorocarbons. This project aims to generate new methods for the selective activation of carbon-fluorine bond ....A top-down approach to synthesising high-value fluorocarbons. Fluorocarbons' ability to impart high stability, solubility, and unique reactivity to host molecules renders them invaluable in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers and surfactants. Their robustness also renders them environmentally persistent. There are no industrially utilised methods for the re-purposing or recycling of fluorocarbons. This project aims to generate new methods for the selective activation of carbon-fluorine bonds in polyfluorocarbons, allowing their incorporation or repurposing into high value chemicals and/or easy derivitisation to access a plethora of new fluorocarbon products. Expected outcomes will allow new processing methods to value add to fluorocarbons while preventing their environmental release. Read moreRead less
Next generation real-time trajectory mining for travel and transportation decision support. Mining human and vehicle trajectories in real time will enable a suite of next-generation applications such as traffic overload prediction, real-time event detection and route recommendation. This project will develop novel techniques for immediate mining of massive volumes of trajectory data as it is being continuously generated.
Harnessing microbial respiration for pollutant degradation and natural gas production. This project seeks to exploit compounds produced naturally by microorganisms to develop a marketable green technology for environmental restoration and clean energy generation in Australia and abroad. Metropolitan and regional communities will benefit from improved environmental and human health and the economy will benefit from global application.
Smart comparison and assessment of prediction models for better health using next generation data mining. Prediction models can be used to provide early warning of events, such as adverse medical outcomes. This project will develop principles for the smart management of large collections of prediction models using data mining, enabling more timely medical interventions for Australians to live healthier and longer.