Optimal Ethylene Oxide Manufacturing via Advanced Process Modelling and Control. This project aims at improving plant efficiency and safety to a world's best level for the Ethylene Oxide (EO) plant of Huntsman Corporation Australia (HCA). EO is a key chemical intermediate for making polyesters (clothing, PET bottles, insulation) and surfactants. To remain globally competitive, it is essential to improve the efficiency of the plant, which has a small capacity and supports important Australian mar ....Optimal Ethylene Oxide Manufacturing via Advanced Process Modelling and Control. This project aims at improving plant efficiency and safety to a world's best level for the Ethylene Oxide (EO) plant of Huntsman Corporation Australia (HCA). EO is a key chemical intermediate for making polyesters (clothing, PET bottles, insulation) and surfactants. To remain globally competitive, it is essential to improve the efficiency of the plant, which has a small capacity and supports important Australian markets. The goals will be achieved by developing advanced operational and control strategies (through computer modeling, process optimisation and intelligent systems approach), which will assist in better understanding the process and in providing optimal HCA plant operation.Read moreRead less
An Intelligent/Smart Framework for Total Process Monitoring And Supervision. Operator failures have an adverse effect on product quality, process safety, occupational health and environmental impact. The management of abnormal operating conditions is a major responsibility and depends critically on information management. A recent report indicates that the total cost attributable to preventable losses in petrochemical companies in U.S. amounts to twenty billion dollars per year. The objective o ....An Intelligent/Smart Framework for Total Process Monitoring And Supervision. Operator failures have an adverse effect on product quality, process safety, occupational health and environmental impact. The management of abnormal operating conditions is a major responsibility and depends critically on information management. A recent report indicates that the total cost attributable to preventable losses in petrochemical companies in U.S. amounts to twenty billion dollars per year. The objective of this project is to develop the theoretical framework and implementation of an Advanced Integrated Support System (ISS) for process monitoring, data analysis and interpretation, event detection and diagnosis, and operations support in chemical and petrochemical processes manufacturing.Read moreRead less
Novel inkjet-printed organic solvent nanofiltration membranes. The pharmaceutical industry is one of fastest growing industries in Australia. Manufacturing pharmaceutical products requires the use of hazardous and expensive organic solvents, which are toxic for the environment and expensive to recover due to the energy intensive thermal process required. This project aims to discover and manufacture a novel, low-cost, chemically robust nanomaterial-based membrane using an industry scalable inkje ....Novel inkjet-printed organic solvent nanofiltration membranes. The pharmaceutical industry is one of fastest growing industries in Australia. Manufacturing pharmaceutical products requires the use of hazardous and expensive organic solvents, which are toxic for the environment and expensive to recover due to the energy intensive thermal process required. This project aims to discover and manufacture a novel, low-cost, chemically robust nanomaterial-based membrane using an industry scalable inkjet printing process. The membrane will be resistant to organic solvents while efficiently recovering valuable and hazardous organic solvents with minimum environmental footprint. It will effectively provide for the future growth of the Australian pharmaceutical industry while also having global applications.Read moreRead less
Flow process and visible-light driven reactions for polymer manufacturing. This project aims to develop rapid, scalable light-driven continuous flow processing techniques that allow the production of value-added synthetic polymers that cannot be achieved by existing technologies. The project will take advantage of the spatio-temporal control of the light mediated polymerisation with flow process to achieve control over the primary structure, the sequential arrangement of monomer units in a polym ....Flow process and visible-light driven reactions for polymer manufacturing. This project aims to develop rapid, scalable light-driven continuous flow processing techniques that allow the production of value-added synthetic polymers that cannot be achieved by existing technologies. The project will take advantage of the spatio-temporal control of the light mediated polymerisation with flow process to achieve control over the primary structure, the sequential arrangement of monomer units in a polymer chain and the molecular weight distribution. The project will result in the preparation of functional polymers containing a specific arrangement of monomers in the polymer chain and a precise distribution of polymer chains. The development of such process will result in the development of advanced materials.Read moreRead less
Synthesis of oligomers in dense carbon dioxide. The aim of the project is to develop a novel technique for the synthesis of low molecular weight polymers (oligomers) using dense carbon dioxide as a polymerisation solvent. The use of elevated pressure is the major impediment to the commercialisation of such technology. The technique proposed in this project will enable oligomers to be produced at greatly reduced operating pressures and may lead to a more general procedure for conducting other t ....Synthesis of oligomers in dense carbon dioxide. The aim of the project is to develop a novel technique for the synthesis of low molecular weight polymers (oligomers) using dense carbon dioxide as a polymerisation solvent. The use of elevated pressure is the major impediment to the commercialisation of such technology. The technique proposed in this project will enable oligomers to be produced at greatly reduced operating pressures and may lead to a more general procedure for conducting other types of polymer synthesis in dense carbon dioxide.Read moreRead less
Process for treatment of fluorine-containing synthetic greenhouse gases. It is generally agreed that increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are leading to higher average atmospheric temperatures. This research pursues the development of an energy-efficient, non-destructive process for transforming fluorine-containing greenhouse gases (GHGs) into valuable and environmentally benign products. The application of research will lead to the development of a new non-destructive proce ....Process for treatment of fluorine-containing synthetic greenhouse gases. It is generally agreed that increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are leading to higher average atmospheric temperatures. This research pursues the development of an energy-efficient, non-destructive process for transforming fluorine-containing greenhouse gases (GHGs) into valuable and environmentally benign products. The application of research will lead to the development of a new non-destructive process and will benefit Australia, socially by reducing emission of GHGs and thus protecting the environment, and economically through licensing of the technology for treatment of the growing stockpiles of synthetic GHGs.
Read moreRead less
Engineering two dimensional polymers for membrane-based chemical separation. This project aims to develop novel two-dimensional polymers with precisely controlled pore-sizes for preparing membrane materials which can efficiently separate these gaseous chemicals at ambient temperatures. Key industrial chemical mixtures with similar size and boiling points are difficult to separate by conventional distillation methods. Currently, purification of olefins alone accounts for 0.3% of global energy use ....Engineering two dimensional polymers for membrane-based chemical separation. This project aims to develop novel two-dimensional polymers with precisely controlled pore-sizes for preparing membrane materials which can efficiently separate these gaseous chemicals at ambient temperatures. Key industrial chemical mixtures with similar size and boiling points are difficult to separate by conventional distillation methods. Currently, purification of olefins alone accounts for 0.3% of global energy use. The expected outcomes of the project will have a huge impact on industrial purification processing by providing a disruptive membrane technology, and will significantly reduce energy consumption and open up new routes for resources.Read moreRead less
Catalytic conversion of Australia's natural gas to value added products. While natural gas (of which methane is the primary component) is an abundant source of energy, it is normally found in remote areas and for its successful exploitation it needs to be processed. The processing usually requires significant energy and resources input. In this project we will develop a fundamental understanding to a single step catalytic process that can utilise natural gas and nitrous oxide (both potent greenh ....Catalytic conversion of Australia's natural gas to value added products. While natural gas (of which methane is the primary component) is an abundant source of energy, it is normally found in remote areas and for its successful exploitation it needs to be processed. The processing usually requires significant energy and resources input. In this project we will develop a fundamental understanding to a single step catalytic process that can utilise natural gas and nitrous oxide (both potent greenhouse gases) and oxygen to produce selectively methanol and hydrocarbons from a natural gas feedstream in a controlled manner. A single step process for natural gas conversion utilising waste green-house gases is expected to be of great benefit to the Australian economy, environment and energy securityRead moreRead less
Clean technologies for the synthesis and purification of a biohybrid and biodegradable polymer. The project aims to transform an Australian industry in the forefront of the global market for manufacturing biodegradable polymers and boost export earnings derived from CO2 based biohybrid polymers. The project will develop cost-effective and clean methods for processing CO2 based polymers and demonstrate its potential for packaging and biomedical applications.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101618
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$389,000.00
Summary
Tailoring multifunctional single site catalysts for carbon dioxide conversion. This project aims to develop multifunctional single site catalysts and collaborative surface sites to complete multi-step reactions using carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation to higher alcohols with enhanced selectivity for large-chain alcohols. CO2 is an abundant and renewable carbon source for use as a feedstock, and closing the carbon cycle in an energy efficient manner has the potential for significant environmental ....Tailoring multifunctional single site catalysts for carbon dioxide conversion. This project aims to develop multifunctional single site catalysts and collaborative surface sites to complete multi-step reactions using carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation to higher alcohols with enhanced selectivity for large-chain alcohols. CO2 is an abundant and renewable carbon source for use as a feedstock, and closing the carbon cycle in an energy efficient manner has the potential for significant environmental benefits. The project is expected to advance the knowledge in rational design of new catalysts for CO2 conversion and understanding the catalyst structure-property induced reaction mechanism. This will result in an improved understanding of the reaction kinetics of utilising CO2 as a feedstock.Read moreRead less