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October Research News
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Research Newsletter – October 2024
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Welcome to our October 2024 Research and Innovation Newsletter.
There are an army of researchers out there looking for solutions to make our economy more circular, find creative uses for our waste and provide a food grade product to our kitchen taps.
It is astonishing how much research they produce from month to month. This month is no exception. Read on to see what they have been up to.
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Industry Innovation and Resilience
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Why is Water Cheap in Australia?
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Stuart Wilson, Deputy Executive Director of WSAA shares his experience in the Australian Water sector. Click this link to read the entire article.
“Australian utilities invest in advanced water and wastewater infrastructure. But with very long-lived assets it is also true that we have a massive legacy to the past.”
“Water is cheap in Australia because our previous generations built many the assets we use today. They built them and they paid for them, and they passed them onto us, virtually debt free and in great working order. We are like teenagers who have been given a car by their parents and only pay for the scheduled servicing.”
Read more at WSAA
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Energy and the Circular Economy
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New Coffee Biochar Concrete Constructs Footpath
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Researchers from RMIT University are celebrating the successful laying of coffee biochar concrete as part of a footpath construction.
The researchers say that coffee biochar concrete has the potential to remove vast amounts of waste material from landfill and strengthen the resulting concrete by 30 per cent.
For this project alone, five tonnes of spent coffee grounds – approximately 140,000 coffees worth of grounds – has been converted into two tonnes of usable biochar, which has been laid into the 30 cubic metres of concrete used in the footpath.
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Turning Seawater Into Fresh Water Through Solar Power
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Researchers at the University of Waterloo have designed an energy-efficient device that produces drinking water from seawater using an evaporation process driven largely by the sun.
The process uses solar power to induce water to evaporate, transports it to the surface, and condenses it in a closed cycle, effectively preventing the accumulation of salt.
Importantly, the device can convert about 93 per cent of the sun into energy, five times better than current desalination systems.
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Nanoparticle-Based Remediation of Chromium-Contaminated Water
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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a nanomaterial-based solution that can effectively reduce the presence of heavy metals like chromium in groundwater.
The proposed process involves using iron nanoparticles that can be used to remediate heavy metals. The iron nanoparticles are injected into the subsurface groundwater region where it reacts with chromium and immobilises it.
Read more at IIS
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Carbohydrate Polymers Could Be a Sweet Solution for Water Purification
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Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a material with sugar-like structures and controllable water solubility to help remove heavy metals from water.
During testing, over a 24-hour period, the material captured up to 20% and 45% of the added cadmium and lead, respectively. The researchers say their new material is a promising step towards more efficient, reusable and selective materials for water purification.
Read more at PhysOrg
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Sustainable Catalysts Break Down Pharmaceuticals in Contaminated Water
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Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have found that an environmentally friendly process involving a Tetra-amido macrocyclic ligands (TAML) catalyst and hydrogen peroxide effectively degrades several antibiotics and other drugs found in wastewater and contaminated river and lake water.
According to the researchers, all you need do is mix solutions of ultra-dilute TAML and very dilute peroxide into drug-contaminated waters and wait until the active pharmaceutical ingredients can no longer be detected.
Read more at PhysOrg
Read the original paper here
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New Filtration Material Made from Silk and Cellulose
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Researchers at MIT have developed a new filtration material. The material, based on natural silk and cellulose, can remove a wide variety of these persistent chemicals as well as heavy metals. While its antimicrobial properties help to keep the filters from fouling.
The research came about serendipitously while the team were looking at ways to make a labelling system to counter the spread of counterfeit seeds.
Read more at SmartWater magazine
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Worm Study Shows Risks Posed by Antidepressants in Water
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Research from Wageningen University & Research has found that when nematodes were exposed to antidepressants, these were absorbed and converted within their metabolism.
More disturbingly, when the nematodes were exposed to varying concentrations of antidepressants, their behaviour was altered; they started to move more slowly.
Read more at PhysOrg
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New Filter Removes Chemical Contaminants from Water Even at Very Low Concentrations
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Researchers led by Kyoto University have developed a new method for removing pharmaceuticals and personal care products from water.
The new approach uses a polymer membrane that houses an interconnected network of pores constructed from metal-organic polyhedra.
The key breakthrough is that the new membrane materials can simultaneously detect and remove trace-level pollutants.
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Designing a Better Water Filter
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Researchers from the University of Missouri have developed a fabric like filter designed to fit to the household tap and remove microplastics.
The filter membrane is made from polyvinyl alcohol fibres, which are polymers currently used in biomedical applications. The team chose the material because it’s low-cost and biocompatible, meaning it’s not toxic to humans, animals or plants.
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All-in-One Solution to Catch and Destroy PFAS
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Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new treatment that traps and treats PFAS substances in a single, integrated system.
The system combines an activated carbon filter with a special, patented catalyst that traps harmful chemicals and breaks them down into harmless components on the filter material.
Read more at PhysOrg
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PFAS Can Persist Through Incineration
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A researcher at Umeå University’s Industrial Doctoral School has found that PFAS are not completely destroyed during incineration and can be found in the by-products of the process.
The research found that short-chain PFAS were the most common compounds identified, both in the leachate from unburned waste and in the ash, condensate, and flue gases produced during incineration.
Read more at PhysOrg
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New Method to Break Down PFAS with Nanoparticles and Ultrasound
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Researchers at ETH Zurich’s Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems have developed a new method to break down a subgroup of PFAS called perfluorooctane sulfonates, or PFOS.
The researchers used piezocatalysis, a process where piezoelectric nanoparticles become electrically charged when placed in an ultrasonic bath. The electrical charge sets a chain of reactions in motion and breaks down the PFOS molecules piece by piece.
Read more at PhysOrg
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WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY
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America Is Doubling Down on Sewer Surveillance
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In the US, monitoring wastewater for viruses has appeared to be so effective at forecasting the risks of the virus’s rise and fall, that local governments are now looking for other ways to use it.
That has meant turning from tracking infections to tracking illicit and high-risk drug use.
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New, More Sustainable Process Uses Water Instead of Harmful Chemicals
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Researchers from the University of Chicago have developed an environmentally sustainable method of microfabrication that uses water and natural materials – including paper – to create and transfer patterns.
Their innovative technique is a new spin on an old process known as salt-assisted photochemical synthesis. The new version uses lasers to create patterns on paper, which can then be easily transferred using water.
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Researchers Witness Nanoscale Water Formation in Real Time
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Researchers from Northwestern University have, for the first time ever, witnessed in real time, and at the molecular scale, hydrogen and oxygen atoms merge to form tiny, nano-sized bubbles of water.
The event occurred when researchers sought to understand how palladium catalyses the gaseous reaction to generate water. By witnessing the reaction at the nanoscale, the team unravelled how the process occurs and even uncovered new strategies to accelerate it.
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So Where Does the Oceans’ Plastic Waste Come From?
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An interesting article if you have ever worried about the rising level of plastics pollution. However, it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Driven by rising population and economic growth, the global use of plastics should almost triple between 2019 and 2060, to 1,231 million tons (Mt) per year, according to the OECD.
That is a gloomy outlook for the aquatic environment where 493 Mt of plastic could pile up by 2060, of which more than half from sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, and other developing Asian countries.
Read more at PhysOrg
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Water Molecule Discovery Upends Textbook Understanding
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute have used a technique called vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) to reveal that ions at the surface of salt water don’t just form a single layer and organize water molecules in one direction.
Instead, ions organise water molecules both up and down, flipping the conventional understanding on its head.
Read more at Earth.com
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Global Nature Positive Summit
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8-10 October 2024, International Convention Centre, Sydney
Australia will host the first Global Nature Positive Summit at the International Convention Centre in Sydney on 8-10 October 2024.
The Summit will bring together delegates from around the world including ministers, environment groups, Aboriginal peoples, business, scientists and community leaders, to consider how to supercharge investment in projects that repair nature.
The Global Nature Positive Summit is an invitation-only event.
Click here to register your interest
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Call for Papers Now Open
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20-22 May 2025, Adelaide Convention Centre
The 2025 theme for Ozwter25,”Looking back, moving forward,” invites us to reflect on the past while embracing a future where water is central to sustainable growth.
The focus will be on valuing water—from sustainable resources to resilient services that nurture healthy, thriving communities.
Find out more at the AWA
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Save the date for Next Water 2025!
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21-22 October 2025, Melbourne
Water Research Australia is excited to announce that Australia’s premier scientific and technical conference on water research and innovation will return in 2025!
Join them in Melbourne in for two days of ground-breaking discussions, inspiring presentations, and networking opportunities.
Find out more here
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If you see any interesting articles, projects or news about new research that others might be interested in, please send to [email protected] – it could even make the next newsletter due in November 2024. |
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Research Data Australia
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Find, access, and re-use data from over one hundred Australian research organisations
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Australian Government – GrantConnect
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Forecast and current Australian Government grant opportunities
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