Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101567
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Adding value to wastewater treatment - ultrasound enhanced crystallisation. The difficulty of disposing of concentrated liquid wastes is forcing industries to reassess their waste treatment processes and strive for zero liquid discharge. This project will add value to industrial waste by improving extraction of purified water and valuable solutes from such concentrates by combining ultrasound with crystallisation processes.
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
3-D Printed Catalytic Monoliths for Energy Efficient Carbon Conversion. Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) is an essential pathway for reducing carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. However a major hurdle in the carbon utilisation part is that the conversion technologies often rely on energy derived from fossil sources. Electrification of carbon conversion processes can overcome this hurdle by providing this energy via renewables. This project aims to develop an electrically powered energy efficie ....3-D Printed Catalytic Monoliths for Energy Efficient Carbon Conversion. Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) is an essential pathway for reducing carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. However a major hurdle in the carbon utilisation part is that the conversion technologies often rely on energy derived from fossil sources. Electrification of carbon conversion processes can overcome this hurdle by providing this energy via renewables. This project aims to develop an electrically powered energy efficient catalytic process for carbon conversion. A modular 3-D printed monolithic catalytic reactor prototype powered by induction or resistive heating will be developed to minimise energy loss in the carbon conversion process. An expected outcome of this project is translation of this prototype in a CCU pilot scale facility.Read moreRead less
Overcoming performance limiting chemistries in membrane distillation. This project aims to study performance limiting chemistries associated with fouling of solution-borne components on membrane surfaces that cause critical vapour pressure loss. Membrane distillation could be used for sustainable resource recovery, but no research has overcome the total loss of membrane water flux when removing water from saturated solutions where the critical resource recovery function occurs. This project will ....Overcoming performance limiting chemistries in membrane distillation. This project aims to study performance limiting chemistries associated with fouling of solution-borne components on membrane surfaces that cause critical vapour pressure loss. Membrane distillation could be used for sustainable resource recovery, but no research has overcome the total loss of membrane water flux when removing water from saturated solutions where the critical resource recovery function occurs. This project will characterise the physical and chemical properties of the flux limiting solid on the membrane surface, and the role of membrane chemistry and functional conditions in overcoming this limit. The outcomes of the work will provide innovative sustainable solutions to recover valuable products from current wastes.Read moreRead less
A fundamental study of milk ultrafiltration. The Dairy Industry is one of Australia's largest domestic and export industries. The fundamental knowledge and models developed in this project will be used to optimise dairy membrane processing. This will reduce water and energy use to improve the global competitiveness and reduce the environmental impact of the Australian Dairy Industry.
Composite Membranes for Energy-efficient Separation Technologies. Advanced separation membranes play a crucial role in the development of clean energy and sustainable water technologies. In this project, new membranes will be developed to substantially improve separation efficiencies in these areas.
Fundamental investigation of the briquetting behaviour of iron ore fines. Handling, including transport and processing, may account for up to 60 per cent of the total delivered price of iron ore. This project will develop an integrated computer model for an improved briquetting process of ore fines with reduced operation cost and less environmental impact, leading to a more competitive and sustainable mineral industry in Australia.
Micromechanic modelling and analysis of the dynamics of non-spherical particles coupled with fluid flow. This project aims to develop advanced theories and mathematical models to describe the packing and flow of non-spherical particles coupled with fluid flow. This will be achieved through a combined theoretical and experimental program, involving the use of advanced discrete particle simulation and detailed analysis of packing/flow structures, particle-particle and particle-fluid interactions a ....Micromechanic modelling and analysis of the dynamics of non-spherical particles coupled with fluid flow. This project aims to develop advanced theories and mathematical models to describe the packing and flow of non-spherical particles coupled with fluid flow. This will be achieved through a combined theoretical and experimental program, involving the use of advanced discrete particle simulation and detailed analysis of packing/flow structures, particle-particle and particle-fluid interactions at a particle scale. Research outcomes including theories, computer models and simulation techniques will be applied to representative industrial operations of importance to Australia's economic and technological future.Read moreRead less
Next generation gas separations via innovative adsorption technologies. This project aims to develop new gas separation technologies that combine novel materials and pressure swing adsorption cycles to deliver inexpensive industrial processes capable of both high recovery and high purity products. The project will advance our ability to manipulate the phenomenon of regulated guest admission into microporous materials, and integrate such materials within new types of dual-reflux adsorption cycles ....Next generation gas separations via innovative adsorption technologies. This project aims to develop new gas separation technologies that combine novel materials and pressure swing adsorption cycles to deliver inexpensive industrial processes capable of both high recovery and high purity products. The project will advance our ability to manipulate the phenomenon of regulated guest admission into microporous materials, and integrate such materials within new types of dual-reflux adsorption cycles that deliver multiple refined gas products. Successful implementation of these industrial developments will increase Australia's access to cheap supplies of natural gas, encourage the broader use of biomass, lower the carbon emissions of industrial processes, and efficiently recover high-value compounds only present at trace concentrations.Read moreRead less
Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based ....Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based waste (including food, garden, paper, and wood) and fossil-fuel derived materials (plastics). Using an innovative and environmentally-sustainable catalytic process, the outcomes of this project are aimed alleviating Australia’s dependence on diesel fuel imports and better waste management solutions in Australia.Read moreRead less