Mitigating the risk of cyanobacterial blooms in wastewater ponds. Cyanobacterial blooms in wastewater treatment plants impact on effluent quality and the utility of recycled water, posing a significant risk to the economy, the environment and public health. To understand the causes of cyanobacterial blooms in pond-based wastewater treatment plants and the risk they pose, this project will use the latest molecular techniques to examine how the microbial communities within these systems interact w ....Mitigating the risk of cyanobacterial blooms in wastewater ponds. Cyanobacterial blooms in wastewater treatment plants impact on effluent quality and the utility of recycled water, posing a significant risk to the economy, the environment and public health. To understand the causes of cyanobacterial blooms in pond-based wastewater treatment plants and the risk they pose, this project will use the latest molecular techniques to examine how the microbial communities within these systems interact with each other and their surrounding environment to form blooms and produce toxins and other harmful metabolites. Such knowledge will inform risk assessment and provide strategies for the mitigation of future bloom events, improving the security of our increasingly valuable recycled water resources.Read moreRead less
On-line monitoring of cyanobacteria to predict coagulant doses and powdered activated carbon application in water treatment. Cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, can impact water quality by releasing toxins that can be harmful to human health and imparting unpleasant taste and odours to the water. This project will support the water industry in managing these risks by providing a rapid, on-line tool to assist in their removal during water treatment.
Early Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IE230100245
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$460,237.00
Summary
Transforming wastewater services in regional Australia. Wastewater treatment in regional Australia faces challenges of odour control, poor pollutant and pathogen removal, and greenhouse gas emissions. This project aims to innovatively use iron salts to realise highly efficient wastewater treatment in regional areas. With Partner, Western Australia Water Corporation, this project expects to leverage a recent breakthrough discovery on iron chemistry to co-develop and field test a solar system that ....Transforming wastewater services in regional Australia. Wastewater treatment in regional Australia faces challenges of odour control, poor pollutant and pathogen removal, and greenhouse gas emissions. This project aims to innovatively use iron salts to realise highly efficient wastewater treatment in regional areas. With Partner, Western Australia Water Corporation, this project expects to leverage a recent breakthrough discovery on iron chemistry to co-develop and field test a solar system that doses wastewater with iron, to overcome four challenges and a supply chain issue simultaneously. Expected outcomes include industry capacity to adopt and commercialise a novel technology with important global relevance. Outcomes should reduce the inequity of wastewater services in regional Australia.Read moreRead less
Sustainability of water and wastewater treatment chemicals. In recent years, the environmental design and management of water and wastewater treatment facilities has broadened from consideration of water quality outcomes to include the environmental consequences of energy and material inputs. This has produced nationally agreed approaches to estimating greenhouse gas emissions from power consumption, but for important chemical additives analysts are forced to work with low-quality estimated dat ....Sustainability of water and wastewater treatment chemicals. In recent years, the environmental design and management of water and wastewater treatment facilities has broadened from consideration of water quality outcomes to include the environmental consequences of energy and material inputs. This has produced nationally agreed approaches to estimating greenhouse gas emissions from power consumption, but for important chemical additives analysts are forced to work with low-quality estimated data. In a time when society wants to account for the 'carbon-footprint' of decisions and more broadly consider the resources used and emissions produced by industry, this research will make this quantitatively possible for chemicals used in water and wastewater treatment.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775548
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,000.00
Summary
Advanced characterisation facilities for functional nanostructured materials. A critical factor that enhances frontier research is a set of advanced core research experimental facilities for material characterisation purposes. The proposed equipment aims to: (1) provide research facilities for advanced nanomaterial research; (2) improve national competitiveness and growth in a knowledge-based economy; and (3) foster local talented researchers in order to meet the strategic needs of the nation fo ....Advanced characterisation facilities for functional nanostructured materials. A critical factor that enhances frontier research is a set of advanced core research experimental facilities for material characterisation purposes. The proposed equipment aims to: (1) provide research facilities for advanced nanomaterial research; (2) improve national competitiveness and growth in a knowledge-based economy; and (3) foster local talented researchers in order to meet the strategic needs of the nation for a sustainable environment. These activities will revitalise Australia's leading role in creating new technologies with particular relevance to using advanced nanostructures for the production of clean air and water, and sustainable energy alternatives.Read moreRead less
Sewer Monitoring and Management in the Digital Era. Overflow, flooding, corrosion, and odorous emissions are persistent issues for utilities managing sewers. Current sewer maintenance is reactive, and focuses on solving problems in local networks, despite that optimal solutions require a system-wide approach. Capitalising on recent development in IoT sensors, wireless transmission, and machine learning, this multidisciplinary project aims to develop digital-twin supported data analytics for proa ....Sewer Monitoring and Management in the Digital Era. Overflow, flooding, corrosion, and odorous emissions are persistent issues for utilities managing sewers. Current sewer maintenance is reactive, and focuses on solving problems in local networks, despite that optimal solutions require a system-wide approach. Capitalising on recent development in IoT sensors, wireless transmission, and machine learning, this multidisciplinary project aims to develop digital-twin supported data analytics for proactive sewer management including network-wide real-time control. The project aims to generate significant social, environmental and economic benefits by enabling utilities to better protect public and environmental health, reduce sewer odour and greenhouse gas emissions, and extend sewer asset life.Read moreRead less
Optimal management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems. Pollutants in wastewater undergo complex changes in sewers, leading to the production and release of odorous and corrosive compounds. Despite major efforts and expenditure by water utilities to mitigate these problems, odorous emissions from sewers are still commonly occurring in urban areas. Furthermore, the value of public assets is significantly diminished due to sewer corrosion, costing hundreds of millions of dollars a yea ....Optimal management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems. Pollutants in wastewater undergo complex changes in sewers, leading to the production and release of odorous and corrosive compounds. Despite major efforts and expenditure by water utilities to mitigate these problems, odorous emissions from sewers are still commonly occurring in urban areas. Furthermore, the value of public assets is significantly diminished due to sewer corrosion, costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in Australia alone. This project is a major joint effort by the Australian water industry and world-leading scientists to generate advanced knowledge and develop effective technologies for optimal odour and corrosion management in sewers, delivering large social, environmental and economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Fluorescence as a tool for sensitive detection of failures in recycled water treatment and distribution systems. Water reuse is emerging as a key strategy for the conservation of drinking water supplies around Australia. Accordingly, there is a need for fast, reliable, affordable and highly sensitive means of ensuring the reliability of treatment processes and final water quality. This research aims to meet such needs by providing new tools based on fluorescence analysis. These tools are to be i ....Fluorescence as a tool for sensitive detection of failures in recycled water treatment and distribution systems. Water reuse is emerging as a key strategy for the conservation of drinking water supplies around Australia. Accordingly, there is a need for fast, reliable, affordable and highly sensitive means of ensuring the reliability of treatment processes and final water quality. This research aims to meet such needs by providing new tools based on fluorescence analysis. These tools are to be implemented for online monitoring of treatment performance and for the identification of accidental contamination of drinking waters by recycled water. The enhanced ability to ensure both recycled water quality and drinking water quality will have public health and environmental benefits as well as protecting public confidence in water recycling systems.Read moreRead less
Sewer corrosion reduction through model-supported ventilation control. Ventilation is one of the key technologies for sewer corrosion control. However, its design and operation are currently based on experience and empirical equations, often leading to unsatisfactory results. By integrating in-depth laboratory and pilot-sewer studies under defined conditions with extensive field investigations, this multidisciplinary project aims to develop critical models to predict the corrosion process in res ....Sewer corrosion reduction through model-supported ventilation control. Ventilation is one of the key technologies for sewer corrosion control. However, its design and operation are currently based on experience and empirical equations, often leading to unsatisfactory results. By integrating in-depth laboratory and pilot-sewer studies under defined conditions with extensive field investigations, this multidisciplinary project aims to develop critical models to predict the corrosion process in response to ventilation and dynamic wastewater and atmospheric conditions, enabling model-based sewer ventilation design and operation. The project also aims to deliver novel, field-demonstrated ventilation strategies. The project findings will be incorporated in the Australian ventilation design and operation guidelines.Read moreRead less
Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, ....Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, unprecedented in scope and resolution. Outcomes include an open access database to quantify and visualise intra-urban air pollution and human exposure and develop air quality maps and smoke pollution management tools. It is expected to advance the evidence-based management of air as a resource, increasing economic prosperity and enhancing human health and quality of life.Read moreRead less