Institute for Sustainability and Innovation 2011 …...PROFESSORS Neil Barr, DPI Andrew Barton,...

2011 Annual Report i

INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION

vu.edu.auCRICOS Provider No. 00124K

ANNUAL REPORT 2011

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Elders, families and forebears of the Boorwurrung and Wurundjeri tribes of the Kulin Nation who were the custodians of University land for many centuries. We acknowledge that the land on which we meet was the place of age-old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal and that the Kulin Nation people’s living culture had and has a unique role in the life of this region.

CONTENTSManagement Structure ............................................ 2

Industry Advisory Board .......................................... 2

Management Committee ......................................... 2

Director’s Report ..................................................... 3

Staff ...................................................................... 4

Postgraduate students .............................................. 6

Key Performance Indicators ..................................... 7

Budget ................................................................... 8

Research funding .................................................... 9

Research projects ...................................................15

Water treatment ............................................15

Social research .............................................26

Ecology .......................................................27

Water resource management ..........................31

Consultancies .......................................................39

Honours and awards ............................................40

Conferences/workshops conducted ........................42

Seminars .............................................................43

Visitors to the institute ............................................44

Overseas student visits ................................. 44

Conference/workshop attendance

and invited lectures ...............................................45

Publications ..........................................................47

2 Institute for Sustainability and Innovation

INDUSTRY ADVISORY BOARD

Graeme Allinson Principal Research Scientist, Dept of Primary Industries

Paul Atherton Regional Development Officer, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water

Emma Bishop Senior Policy Officer, Dept of Sustainability & Environment

Tony Wright CEO, Victorian Water Industry Association

Professor Stewart Burn Scientist, CSIRO

Rodney Dedman Manager, Water Policy, Department of Health

Dr Dharma Dharmabalan Executive Manager, Coliban Water

Robert Franklin General Manager, Western Water

Geoff Gardiner General Manager, City West Water

David Gregory Research and Technology, Melbourne Water

Dr David Halliwell Wastewater Program Manager, Water Quality Research Australia

Stephen Landsell Project co-ordinator – Water Environment Protection Authority (EPA)

Jason McGregor Environment Manager, Central Highlands

Peter Mckinnon Manager, Environment and Sustainability Wyndham City council

Paul Northey Corporate Manager, Barwon Water

Peter Scott General Manager, Melbourne Water

Terry Turney Chief Executive Officer, Asia Nanomaterials

Greg Vero Engineering and Technical Manager, ORICA Watercare

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Max Coster Department of Sustainability & Environment

Eddy Ostarcevic Integrated Elements

Peter McKinnon Wyndham City Council

Professor Linda Rosenman Victoria University

Professor Michelle Towstoless Victoria University

Professor Stephen Gray Victoria University

Assoc. Professor Mikel Duke Victoria University

Janette Francis Resources Officer

DVC-RESEARCHAND REGION

INSTITUTE INDUSTRYADVISORY BOARD

INSTITUTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

RESOURCE OFFICER (0.5 EFT)

INSTITUTE DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATIONOFFICER

INNOVATIVE FOODS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY WATERINDUSTRY ADVISORY

BOARD

DIRECTOR

PRINCIPALRESEARCH SCIENTIST

PRINCIPALRESEARCH SCIENTIST

SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST

RESEARCH TEAMRESEARCH TEAM

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

2011 Annual Report 3

The Institute or Sustainability and Innovation (ISI) maintained a good level external income performance, receiving around $1,000,000 in external income for 2011, and the main focus was again water research.

The National Centre of Excellence for Desalination Australia (NCEDA) and the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE) continued to be significant funders of our research, with ISI involved in 8 NCEDA projects and three AWRCoE projects.

We maintained good research student numbers with 4 PhDs awarded and another 29 students undertaking studies. Dr Lata Ramchandran joined the Food research team, and Dr Jianhua Zhang commenced work as a research officer on a NCEDA project after successfully completing his PhD studies. Dr Jianhua Zhang also won the 2011 Vice Chancellor’s PhD Student Research Excellence Award 2011.

ISI continued to develop its international reputation with continuing collaboration with leading Chinese universities is planned for 2011, and with the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP). Prof Tom Davis from UTEP’s Centre for Inland Desalination visited ISI as well as Origin Energy and Hatch as part of a NCEDA project on silica removal.

The support of the University, our Industry Advisory Board, and management committee, along with the efforts of our staff, students, adjuncts and colleagues during 2011 is gratefully acknowledged.

Director, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation

DIRECTOR’S REPORT


STAFF

DIRECTOR Professor Stephen Gray, PhD (Melbourne), BE (Melbourne)

RESEARCH PROFESSORS Professor Paul Boon, PhD (Griffith), BSc Hons (Sydney)

Professor John Cary, PhD (Melbourne), M.Agr.Sc., (Melbourne), B.Agr.Sc., (Massey)

ASSOCIATE RESEARCH PROFESSOR Assoc. Professor Mikel Duke, PhD (UQ), BE Hons (UQ)

RESEARCH FELLOWS Dr Marlene Cran, PhD (VU), BSc Hons (VU)

Dr Patrick Guay, PhD Zoology (Melbourne), MSc Medical Research (McGill, Montreal, Canada), BSc Honours Biochemistry (McGill, Montreal, Canada).

Dr Nicholas Milne, PhD (New South Wales), BE (New South Wales)

Dr Daniel Ooi, PhD (Melbourne), Masters (Sydney), BPsych Hons (Sydney)

Dr Peter Sanciolo, PhD (Swinburne), B.App Sci (Swinburne), Dip.Ed (MCAE), Cert IV in Assessment & Workplace Training

Dr Matthew Stewart, PhD (VU), BSc Hons (VU), BSc Medical Forensic and Analytical Chemistry (VU)

Dr Bo Zhu, PhD (Deakin), Masters (Zhejiang, China), BSc (Zhejang, China)

RESEARCH OFFICERS Noel Dow, MSc (VU), B. App Sci (VU)

Dr Lata Ramchandran, PhD (VU), MSc (Gujarat Agricultural University, India), BSc (Gujarat Agricultural University, India)

Dr Jianhua Zhang (PhD, VU), MSc (Shandong, China), BE (Xi’an Jiatong, China)

ADJUNCT RESEARCH PROFESSORS Neil Barr, DPI

Andrew Barton, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater)

Stewart Burn, CSIRO

Robert Fairclough, Wyndham City Council

Andrew Groth, Siemens

Manh Hoang, CSIRO

Syed Hussainy, Melbourne Water

Michel Lefebvre, Steripak

Anne Pisarski, Queensland University of Technology

Ashok Sharma, CSIRO

Terry Turney, Asia Nanomaterials

Yonggang Zhu, CSIRO


ADJUNCT RESEARCH ASSOC. PROFESSORS Hal Aral, Jervois Mining Ltd

Nohemi Quispe-Chavez, Dairy Innovation Australia Limited

Dharma Dharmabalan, Coliban Water

Simon Wilson, Arris

ADJUNCT SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS Simon Coutts, Grantus

Kevin Zhang, RMIT

ADJUNCT VISITING PROFESSORS Eric Peterson, University of Sunshine Coast

Grant Stanley, CQ University


DEGREES AWARDED Ludovic Dumee (PhD)

Iwan Juwana (PhD)

Jianhua Zhang (PhD)

Sithranjan Shanmugasundam (Masters)

PHD CANDIDATES Bernard Agana

Stephanie Ashbolt

Bernardette Aquilina

Suchana Barua

Sushil Kumar Das

Sachindra Dhanapala

Danaka Nilantha Gamage

Walter Godoy

Angela Hausmann

Safaet Hossain

Prasad Imandar

Uchenna Kennedy Kesieme

Chi Lai

Lyudmilea Lunevich

Shahram Molavi

Senaviratna Abeykoon Mudiyanselage

Darli Myat

Nepi Marleni Ni

Eddy Ostarcevic

Chathuri Piyadasa

Qomarudin Qomarudin

Marta Slawuta

Rackel Reis

Alice Taysom

Anne Venables

Zongli Xie

Po Zhang

MASTERS CANDIDATES Elnaz Bodaghkani

Thilini Hettiarachchi

POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS


KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

KPI Target Actual 2011 Actual 2010External Income $1,000,329 $866,000

Journal Publications 48 40

A*/A Journal Publications 13 14

Conference publications 29 31

PhD students 30 (3) 32 (3)

Masters students 3 (1) 1

Consultancies 3 6

Training courses 5 6

Projects in faculties 33 23 () number of completed PhD students


BUDGET

INCOME

University $482,665

Research Infrastructure Block Grants (RIBG) $100,000

Priority Research Innovation Projects (PRIP) $790,000

Australian Research Council (ARC) $271,472

Research Projects $699,076

Consultancy $59,781

Education/RTS/Workshops/Misc. $152,427

Total income $2,525,421

2010 Carry Forward $289,727

$2,815,148

Expenses

Salaries $1,742,051

Travel/Meal Entertainment $112,553

Operations $209,246

Research Project Consumables/Equipment $261,091

Education/Workshops $113,091

Consultancies $126,794

Total Expenses $2,564,826

Operating Result $250,322


RESEARCH FUNDING

PROJECT INVESTIGATORS INDUSTRY PARTNERS FUNDS($)

A System Protection Framework for Cloud Computing based on Data Mining Techniques

Jing He, Yanchun Zhang, Mehmet Yildiz (Victoria University)

FOHES Collaborative grant scheme

14,550

An investigation into the factors required to achieve total water recycling at two major Australian industrial manufacturing sites

Bernard Agana, John Orbell (Victoria University), Darrell Reeve (Cleaner Production Australia)

Cadbury Schweppes, Toyota, City West Water

130,000

Assessment of alternative to disposal of used RO membranes

Pierre Le-Clech (UNSW), Greg Leslie (UNSW), Mikel Duke, Marlene Cran (Victoria University), Bradley Ladewig (Monash), Kai Uwe-Hoehn (Dow Chemical), Amanda Hazell (Water Corporation), Stephen Roddy (Sydney Water), Con Pelekani (SA Water)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED)

15,000

Assessment of potential impacts of climate change and urbanisation on Urban drainage systems

Shahram Molavi (PhD student), Nitin Muttil, Dung Tran (Victoria University)

VU PhD project –

Funding to work as visiting scientist

Bo Zhu (Victoria University) Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) -Endeavour Awards

21,500

Brine management guidelines

Peter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)


220,000

Bryozoan (tobacco weed) control in water distribution systems

John Orbell, Robin Mitra (Victoria University), Paul Atherton, Andrew Barton, Steven Briggs (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements)

Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

330,000

Catchment level down casting of hydro climatic variables from general circulation model outputs

Sachindra Dhanapala (PhD student), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University), Andrew Barton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)


–

Chemically tolerant advanced ceramic membranes for reduced cost water treatment

Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Gayle Morris (University of SA), Kenichi Nishizu (CI Ceramics (Aust) Pty Ltd), Domun Choi (Chosun Refractory Co Ltd), Il-Shik Moon (Sunchon National University)

Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage with CI Ceramics (Sydney), Chosun Refractory Company

405,000

Cleaner Production and Resource Recovery: Encouraging Best Practice and Innovation

Nicholas Milne (Victoria University) Smart Water Fund 180,000

Congeneric production of bio-fuel from algae to supplement fossil fuel

Jun-De Li, Syed Hussainy, Mary Millikan (Victoria University), T Hatt (Western Water)

VU Research Grant Scheme, Western Water

15,000



Continuous silica removal during desalination for increased water recovery

Nicholas Milne, Peter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Mark Beighton (Origin Water)

Australia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd (APLNG)

75,000

Continued Development of REALM water supply planning software tool

Chris Perera (Victoria University) Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE)

148,500

Converting waste or solar heat to treated water (Membrane Distillation)

Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray, Jun-De Li, Noel Dow (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Rohan Barron (City West Water), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

Smart Water, Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)

50,000

Crystallization to Enhance Two Stage Reverse Osmosis (RO) Recovery.

Peter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Greg Leslie (UNSW), Tony Fane (UNSW), Yoram Cohen (UCLA)

Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water),Tony Palmer, Hiep Le (United Utilities Australia)

180,000

CSIRO Cluster Project Jianhua Zhang, Stephen Gray, Jun-De Li, Mikel Duke, Jun-De Li (Victoria University)

CSIRO 132,827

Decision Support System for Management of Urban Stormwater Drainage Network

Sena Abeykoon (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University)

VU PhD project –

Demonstrating and enhancing the social, economical and environmental value of water recycling

Mikel Duke, Bo Zhu, Stephen Gray, Nicholas Milne, (Victoria University), Danny Murphy, Judy Blackbeard (Melbourne Water), Jon Bates, Tan Tze Wee (Black & Veatch), Jonathan Clements (PWN Technologies)

Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE)

286,421

Designing the surface and structural properties of MFI zeolite membranes for low energy ion-selective desalination

Mikel Duke, Bo Zhu (Victoria University), Anita Hill (CSIRO)

Australian Research Council

285,000

Developing a water sustainability index for West Java, Indonesia

Iwan Juwana (PhD student), Chris Perera, Nitin Muttil (Victoria University)

AusAid; PhD project –

Development of a Forecasting Scheme for Reservoir Inflows

Dung Tran, Chris Perera, Nitin Muttil (Victoria University)

Post-Doctoral Project –

Development of cleaning guidelines for desalination membrane users

Marlene Cran (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic, (Integrated Elements), Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Dr Andrew Head (Nalco) Veolia Water, Orica Chemnet, BASF, Degremont


70,700

Early detection of cyanobacteria and toxins in rural Victoria using on-site detection fluorescence; ultra violet and infrared spectrometry

Mary Millikan, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

VU Research Grants Scheme

14,835



Ecology of waterfowl on wastewater treatment lagoons

Patrick Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University)

Melbourne Water Corporation

38,311

Effect of climate change on storm intensity, frequency and duration

Safaet Hossain (PhD student), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University)

VU PhD project –

Exploring Anammox in Australia: A revolutionary process towards sustainable water recycling

Mostafa Golam (Endeavour Research fellow from University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh), Mikel Duke, Thomas Yeager (Victoria University)

Endeavour Awards Australia

23,500

Evaluation of a non-chemical pulsed-power technology as an antifouling pre-treatment for reverse osmosis desalination membranes

Thomas Yeager, John Orbell, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Dr Harry Ridgeway (Aquamem & Stanford University)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), Clearwater Pty, SA Water

170,000

Evaluation of potential stormwater harvesting opportunities and sites in an urban development

Prasad Inamdar (PhD student); Chris Perera (Victoria University), Ashok Sharma, Stewart Burn (CSIRO)

CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country

–

Factors determining habitat selection by birds in coastal habitats in Western Port Victoria (PhD project)

Paul Boon, Marta Slawuta (Victoria University)

City of Casey, VU PhD project

6,000

Fouling of membrane distillation membranes in inland desalination

Po Zhang (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), CSIRO, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water), Osmoflo, Siemens

–

High water recovery inland desalination using membrane distillation with ceramic membranes

Joe da Costa (University of Qld), Mikel Duke (Victoria University), Simon Cashion (Ceramipore), Simon Smart (University of Qld)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination

–

Human-waterbird conflicts: determination of suitable buffer zones for Australian dabbling and grazing waterfowl

Patrick Guay (Victoria University) VU Research Grant Scheme, C. Scarpaci, M.A. Weston (Deakin University, Birds Australia)

9,978.25

Hybrid Membrane Materials

Stephen Gray, Xongli Xie (PhD student, Victoria University)

CSIRO –

Hybridisation between Mallards and Black Ducks in New Zealand

Patrick Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University)

Victoria University of Wellington

3,900.00

Hydro-meteorological trend analysis to detect existing effects of climate change in Gediz Basin, Turkey

Elnaz Bodaghkani (Masters student), Abdullah Yilmaz (Victoria University)

Heriot-Watt University Masters project

–



Impacts of captive breeding on brain size in Marsupials

Patrick-Jean Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University), Marissa Parrott (Zoos Victoria)

The University of Melbourne, Zoos Victoria, The Zoo and Aquarium Association and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program

–

Improving the durability and performance of hollow fibre membranes with nanocomposite and inorganic/organic hybrid materials.

Jessica Lai (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Dr A Groth (Siemens Water Technology)

Australian Research Council, Siemens (Memcor)

155,007

Innovative zero-energy membrane technologies to reduce water consumption in the dairy industry

Angela Hausmann (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Peter Sanciolo, Todor Vasiljevic (Victoria University)

Australian Research Council, Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd (DIAL)

78,420

Investigate rapid detection methods for blue-green algae from Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

Mary Millikan, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Barbara Bowles (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)


80,000

Investigating hybridisation between Pacific Black Ducks and Mallards in Victoria

Patrick-Jean Guay, Alice Taysom (PhD student), Megan O’Shea, Joshua Johnson (Victoria University)

MA Ingram Trust, Bird Observation and Conservation Australia & Birds Australia, Australian Bird Study Association

1,800

Lowering membrane fouling by matching pre-treatment to membrane type

Stephen Gray, John Orbell (Victoria University)

Australian Research Council (ARC), ORICA

164,669

Managing disturbance to waterbirds at the western treatment complex: understanding the basic patterns

Patrick Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University), Mike Weston (Deakin University)

Melbourne Water Corporation; Birds Australia; FHES Collaborative Research Grant Scheme

59,978

Membrane Degradation Marlene Cran, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

Water Quality Research Australia (ARC), Coliban Water, Water Corporation, Professor Benny Freeman (University of Texas-Austen)

–

Membrane Integrity Eddy Ostarcevic (PhD student) Stephen Gray, Marlene Cran (Victoria University)

Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)

–

Multi Objective planning and operation of water supply systems subject to climate change

Sachindra Dhanapala, Walter Godoy (PhD students), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University), Andrew Barton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

Australian Research Council (ARC), Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

58,233

New Membrane Materials Stephen Gray, Mikel Duke (Victoria University)

CSIRO Textiles and Fibre Technology

–

Non-Residential Urban Water Demand Forecasting for Water Resources Planning and Management

Suchana Barua (PhD student), Anne Ng, Shobha Muthukumaran, Chris Perera (Victoria University), Peter Roberts (Yarra Valley Water)

VU PhD project, Yarra Valley Water

–



Novel separation processes in the mining industry

Uchenna Kesieme (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Nicholas Milne (Victoria University)

CSIRO 78,000

Proactive Management System for Sewerage Assets

Dung Tran (Victoria University) CSIRO and United Water –

Protocal for evaluating chemical pre-treatment for high pressure membranes (Anti-scalant effectiveness)

Greg Leslie, Pierre Le Clech, Shane Cox (UNSW), Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)/WRF

–

Public perception of, and response to, desalination in Australia

John Cary, Adrian Fisher, Daniel Ooi (Victoria University)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), Tanya King (Deakin University)), Renato Schibeci (Murdoch University), Kristina Murphy (Alfred Deakin = Griffith University), Kevin O'Toole (Deakin), Ageoff Syme (Edith Cowan)

170,000

Quantification of non-point source pollution in Yarra River Catchment

Sushil Das (PhD student), Anne Ng, Chris Perera (Victoria University)

VU PhD project –

Real time integrity monitoring for high pressure membrane systems

Marlene Cran (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements)

Water Quality Research Australia (ARC), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)), Dharma Dharmabalan (Coliban Water)

140,000

Reverse Osmosis brine management by membrane distillation crystallisation

Po Zhang (PhD student), Stephen Gray, Mikel Duke, Jun-De Li (Victoria University)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), Manh Hoang (CSIRO), Andrew Groth (Siemens), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)), Neil Palmer, Po Zhang (Osmoflo)

150,000

Satellite Tracking of Grey Teals dispersing from the Western Treatment Plant, Werribee

Patrick Guay, Megan O'Shea (Victoria University)

VU Research Development Grant, Melbourne Water Corporation

29,196

Scenario Analysis of source management practices to analyse its impact on sewerage networks

Ni Marleni (PhD student), Nitin Muttil, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Ashok Sharma, Stewart Burn (CSIRO)

CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country

81,000

Silica removal from groundwater for reverse osmosis water recovery enhancement and waste brine volume reduction

Nicholas Milne, Peter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Mark Beighton (Origin Water)

National Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), Origin Energy, Hatch, Minara Resources

137,500



Skyjuice membrane integrity test

Stephen Gray, Marlene Cran (Victoria University)

Skyjuice Foundation –

Stakeholder values, attitudes and emotion related to recycled water ( a component of the evaluation of social, economic and governance challenges)

John Cary, Adrian Fisher, Daniel Ooi (Victoria University)

Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence

246,500

Statistical analysis to detect climate change implications on water resources

Sithranjan Shanmugasundam (PhD student), Nitin Muttil, Chris Perera (Victoria University)

VU Masters project –

Streamflow Reconstruction of Yarra River to Assess extreme drought conditions

Anne Ng, Nitin Muttil (Victoria University)

VU PhD project –

Sustainable Water Options for Sportsfields

Nicholas Milne, Sally Weller, John Cary (Victoria University), John Tower, Kevin Zhang (RMIT), Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

Smart Water Fund 160,000

Temporal and spatial human disturbance monitoring at the Western Treatment Plant

Patrick Guay (Victoria University) Melbourne Water 20,000

Toward a community understanding of the threat of Domestic Mallard hybridisation with Pacific Black Ducks

Patrick Guay (Victoria University) Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Inc.

885

Use of remote sensing data for generation of stream flow time series in data-poor regions

Nilantha Gamage (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University), Vladmir Smakhtin (International Water Management Institute (IWMI))

International Water Management Institute (IWMI), VU PhD project

–

Validation for Reuse - NatVal

Stephen Gray, Marlene Cran (Victoria University)

Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE)/Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)

7,000

Water Conservation by Replacing Cooling Towers

Jun-De Li, Josef Rojter, Graham Thorpe, Stephen Bigger, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

Smart Water Fund 103,028

Water Grid Issues Stephanie Ashbolt (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University), Shiroma Maheepala (CSIRO)

CSIRO, VU PhD project –


RESEARCH PROJECTS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FACTORS REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE TOTAL WATER RECYCLING AT TWO MAJOR AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING SITES Project DescriptionDue to increasing water scarcity and costs, manufacturing industries around the world are moving towards the recycling of their process wastewater. However, the rate at which wastewater is recycled and reused in most manufacturing industries is quite low compared to the rate at which they consume fresh water. Worldwide, the recycling rate for industry (recycled water as a percentage of total intake) averages ~43%. Some countries perform better than others in this regard, with Japan achieving in excess of 70% for some major industries. There is enormous scope for achieving substantially higher rates and, with increases in the efficiency of water usage and with the introduction of advanced water treatment technologies, the goal of total water recycling is a very real possibility. This joint School of Engineering and Science (SES)/Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI) project, in collaboration with City West Water (CWW), aims to produce an integrated approach towards achieving total water recycling at two major industrial manufacturing sites; namely, Toyota Australia and Schweppes Australia; both located within the vicinity of Victoria University. Achieving this goal has been pursued through advanced water auditing, optimization of water use through computer modelling and the introduction and viability testing of advanced technologies. The project commenced in March 2008 and, since then, detailed water audits on the Toyota and Schweppes sites have been carried out which have provided input information for “water pinch analysis” – a computerized water optimization method. Water pinch analyses have since been successfully completed for both companies the outcomes of which have allowed strategies to be recommended for increasing process efficiency. These analyses have also been used to guide the selection, acquisition and trialling of new water recycling technologies. This has been addressed via the construction and implementation of a specialized membrane testing rig at the Werribee campus. Utilizing this equipment, the testing of a range of membranes against the various waste streams has now been completed - with significant outcomes and recommendations emerging. A number of high ranking publications and conference presentations have resulted from this project, with more pending. The associated PhD thesis is also nearing completion (submission due in September 2012). Significant benefits to these two Australian-based companies are anticipated from this work - such as a reduction in operating costs, adaptability to new environmental restrictions and less dependence on freshwater retailers. The extent to which

total water recycling can be achieved will inform future work and these outcomes will be entirely transferable to other industries. The funding for this project involves: An AusAID – ALA (Australian Leadership Award) Scholarship for a four year PhD program (stipend + $6,000 study enrichment allowance); Toyota Australia, $60,000; Cadbury Schweppes Australia, $30,000; City West Water (CWW), $30,000, plus in-kind support from Victoria University. The personnel and collaborators include: Mr Bernard Agana (SES/ISI, AusAID ALA PhD candidate); Professor John Orbell (Principal Supervisor, SES/ISI); Mr Darrell Reeve (ISI/Cleaner Production, Australia); Ms Geraldine McKenzie-McHarg, (Toyota Australia); Mr Graeme Kentish, (Cadbury Schweppes, Australia); Ms Randa Kondos, (CWW); Ms Audra Liubinas, (CWW).

Research SponsorsCadbury Schweppes, Toyota, City West Water, AusAID

Investigators John Orbell (Victoria University), Darrell Reeve (Cleaner Production Australia)

ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVES TO DISPOSAL OF USED RO MEMBRANESProject DescriptionThis project explores alternatives to disposal of RO membranes. This addresses a growing concern in the uptake of massive scale desalination systems in Australia. The project has been supported by interns visiting from Europe and is part of a larger project funded by the National Centre of Excellence for Desalination lead by University of New South Wales.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA)

InvestigatorsPierre Le-Cleche, Greg Leslie, William Lawler (UNSW) Mikel Duke, Marlene Cran (Victoria University), Bradley Ladewig (Monash), Kai-Uwe Hoehn (Dow Filmtec), Amanda Hazell (Water Corporation), Con Pelekani (SA Water), Stephen Roddy (Sydney Water).

WATER TREATMENT


BRINE MANAGEMENT GUIDELINESProject Description Develop guidelines for management of brine concentrates in partnership with GWMWater, Smart Water Fund, NCED and Integrated Elements. The project will deliver a guidance manual on managing brines.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA)

InvestigatorsStephen Gray, Peter Sanciolo (Victoria University)

BRYOZOAN (TOBACCO WEED) CONTROL IN WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMSProject DescriptionOngoing drought conditions across Australia, exacerbated by climate change, call for a range of urgent and long-term infrastructure initiatives. In this regard, the development and construction of water pipelines are an important part of a strategy to ensure a sufficient supply of this essential resource to all sectors of the Australian population. The Wimmera Mallee Pipeline (WMP) project in Victoria is Australia’s biggest water infrastructure project and is a logical adjunct to the existing Northern Mallee Pipeline (NMP). An important consideration, for Victorian rural supplies in particular, is the problem of biological contamination and infestation. One such problem organism is known as “tobacco weed” or “pipe moss” - more correctly referred to as Bryozoan infestation. This program involves the establishment of a “research platform”, based at Victoria University, to enable an ongoing scientific investigation into this problem - and is intended to provide a resource for those affected by this problem, both in Australia and internationally. The project involves a determination of the nature and extent (distribution) of the problem in the existing NMP in consultation with Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater) operators, the setting up of research facilities at Victoria University and an assessment of what might be encountered with respect to Plumatella infestation for the WMP. The project commenced in October 2008 with the appointment of Research Fellow Dr. Robin Mitra. Since then, a series of major field trips have successfully scoped the problem and have also involved extensive sampling at different sites. This has enabled ten Bryozoan species that infest the NMP to be definitively identified – a number of these have not been observed in Australia before. This work has been published in the proceeding of a major conference and two journal articles have recently been accepted by an internationally refereed journal. This work has also been extensively documented in a series of milestone reports to GWMWater. Attempts have been

made to cultivate these organisms at our customized facilities that include a field laboratory at Ouyen and dedicated facilities at the St. Albans campus. This has resulted in elucidating the laboratory conditions for the successful germination of Bryozoan statoblasts. Our success in the collection, identification and processing of statoblasts will be integral to ongoing efforts to develop control and eradication measures that may be employed in lieu of current techniques such as “superchlorination” - that can lead to undesirable breakdown products in the water supply. Control and/or eradication measures under consideration include physical techniques such as pulsed electric field technology and ultrasonication, possibly hybridized with more benign chemical agents such as hydrogen peroxide. Such techniques would focus on controlling the statobalsts at the source rather than the colonies. Further funding will be sought to build upon the research platform already in place. The overall objective project is to devise a long term plan for the reduction or eradication of Bryozoan infestation in both the NMP and the WMP systems. However, this will also have implications for pipeline systems across Australia and Worldwide. The funding for this project is provided by GWMWater: 1st year ~$110,000, 2nd year ~$120,000, 3rd year ~$115,000. Personnel and collaborators on this project include: Prof John Orbell (SES/ISI); Dr Robin Mitra (SES/ISI, Postdoctoral Research Fellow); Mr Paul Atherton (GWM Water); Professor Andrew Barton (GWM Water); Mr Steven Briggs (GWM Water) and Mr Eddy Ostarcevic (Tamarama Estate).

Research SponsorsGrampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

InvestigatorsJohn Orbell, Robin Mitra (Victoria University)

CONTINOUS SILICA REMOVAL DURING DESALINATION FOR INCREASED WATER RECOVERYProject DescriptionInvestigation into continuous removal of silica for high water recovery from reverse osmosis processes treating coal seam gas water.

Research SponsorsAustralia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd (APLNG)

InvestigatorsNicholas Milne, Peter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Mark Beighton (Origin Water)


DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED CERAMIC MEMBRANES: A ROBUST SOLUTION TO SUSTAINABLE WATER TREATMENT Project DescriptionAn ARC Linkage project with CI Ceramics (Sydney) and Choson Refractory Company and Sunchon National University (Korea) has just commenced, and will investigate new ceramic membrane materials for water treatment.

Research SponsorsAustralian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project with CI Ceramics (Sydney), Chosun Refractory Company (Korea)

InvestigatorsMikel Duke, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Gayle Morris (University of SA), Ricardo Kaedo (CI Ceramics Pty Ltd), Domun Choi (Chosun Refractory Co Ltd), Il-Shik Moon (Sunchon National University)

CLEANER PRODUCTION AND RESOURCE RECOVERY: ENCOURAGING BEST PRACTICE AND INNOVATIONProject Description:The project looked at benchmarking the quality of water discharged from manufacturing facilities and highlighting best practice for improving water quality and internal reuse of resources and water. It investigated ways of encouraging industry to adopt changes or to find innovative ways of improving their environmental operations with regards to water. Due to poor feedback on the initial survey, the survey was updated and shortened to increase the chance of response. Responses have now been received throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Singapore. The final report was submitted to Smart Water and is now available through their website.

Research SponsorsSmart Water Fund

InvestigatorsNicholas Milne (Victoria University)

CONGENERIC PRODUCTION OF BIO-FUEL FROM ALGAE TO SUPPLEMENT FOSSIL FUEL Project DescriptionBy-products of sewage solids have been well recognised over the decades as a potential source of methane. Methane thus produced has been a source of energy to generate electricity and/or to heat the anaerobic digesters.

In recent times algae from sewage ponds have been realised as a source of bio-fuel to supplement fossil fuel. ISI in conjunction with Western Water have initiated a project to grow, harvest and extract biofuels from algae in experimental high-rate ponds at the Western Water’s sewage treatment facility near Bacchus Marsh. Experiments will be conducted on the ambient algal species normally found in the ponds, as well as on species with the right characteristics to be introduced to provide a better outcome.

The project is in its initial stages and the results so far have been encouraging. The high rate ponds have been designed and are operating satisfactorily producing a good standing crop of algae. Attempts are being made to develop procedures for the harvesting of algae and their bio-fuel extraction.

Appropriate procedures are being developed for the digestion of the algae to produce methane. Algal sludge on its own is less susceptible to breakdown due to the high ammonia content. To overcome this predicament anaerobic sludge will be added to adjust the carbon nitrogen ratio to a congenial level.

Research SponsorsVU Research Grant Scheme, Western Water

InvestigatorsJun-De Li, Syed Hussainy, Mary Millikan (Victoria University), T Hatt (Western Water)


CONVERTING WASTE OR SOLAR HEAT TO TREAT WATERProject DescriptionFunded by Smart Water, GWMWater and WQRA. Membrane distillation has been demonstrated to treat industry water using waste heat in order to produce treated water with minimal electricity requirement. The project is in partnership with City West Water, GWMWater and WQRA, and featured a 3 month site trial of ISI’s most recent module design at Ecogen Energy’s Newport Power Station. The pilot plant was constructed with all necessary controls and datalogging for unattended operation, and the trial was successfully executed from September to December 2011. Initial analysis of the performance data has shown the MD plant desalinated the Power Station’s effluent producing distilled product water at between 2 and 3 L/hr over the duration of the trial. The maximum water recovery achieved was 93% with a reject water concentration of greater than 70,000 mg/L and salt rejection of 99.97%. The experiment successfully tested the MD process’ longevity and robustness, demonstrating a system driven by waste heat produced highly desalinated water. Post-run examinations of the pilot plant and a membrane autopsy were performed to better understand the resistances to permeate flux and other limitations of the technology. The successful outcomes of this project strengthen the assertion of MD being a viable treatment technology for industrial effluent to recover potable water without an increase in greenhouse gas emissions

Research SponsorsSmart Water and Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)

InvestigatorsNoel Dow, Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray, Jun-De Li (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water ) and Audra Luibinas (City West Water)

DEMONSTRATION OF LOW MAINTENANCE CHEMICAL FREE RECYLING OF SECONDARY TREATED EFFLUENT BY CERAMIC MEMBRANESProject DescriptionThe projects aim is to demonstrate cost savings, low maintenance and waste reducing opportunities of ceramic membranes. This pilot trial brings together an international team of technology, water treatment and research experts to successfully demonstrate the novel ceramic membrane system hybridised with ozonation on site. An economic assessment will be made from the performance demonstrating its true potential for water recycling.

Research SponsorsWater Recycling Centre of Excellence

InvestigatorsMikel Duke, Bo Zhu, Stephen Gray, Nicholas Milne, (Victoria University), Danny Murphy, Judy Blackbeard (Melbourne Water), James Currie (Black & Veatch), Jonathan Clements (PWN Technologies), Pam Kerry, Ann Gooding (SE Water) and David Halliwell (WQRA)

DESIGNING THE SURFACE AND STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF MFI ZEOLITE MEMBRANES FOR LOW ENERGY ION-SELECTIVE DESALINATIONProject DescriptionThis project aimed to uncover fundamental properties of zeolites to design performance targeted desalination membranes. The project included research on the ion uptake capacity of the zeolites used to make membranes followed by powder diffraction analysis of the samples at the Australian Synchrotron.

Research SponsorsAustralian Research Council Discovery project

Investigators:Mikel Duke, Bo Zhu (Victoria University), Linda Zou (University of South Australia), Anita Hill (CSIRO), Jerry Lin (Arizona State University)


DEVELOPMENT OF CLEANING GUIDELINES FOR DESALINATION MEMBRANE USERSProject DescriptionAn NCED funded project with industry partners Nalco and Integrated Elements. This project is assessing current practices and literature for cleaning desalination membranes, and is compiling a set of guidelines for users to optimise the operational performance of their membranes. The project will be completed mid-year.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED), Nalco and Integrated Elements

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran (Victoria University), Andrew Head (Nalco), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements)

EVALUATION OF A NON-CHEMICAL PULSED-POWER TECHNOLOGY AS AN ANTIFOULING PRE-TREATMENT FOR REVERSE OSMOSIS DESALINATION MEMBRANESProject DescriptionFundamental investigation of pulsed electromagnetic radiation and its ability to prevent biofouling by killing bacteria. A PhD student has been identified and will commence once the contract with the NCED is signed.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence for Desalination

InvestigatorsThomas Yeager, John Orbell, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Dr Harry Ridgeway (Aquamem & Stanford University)

EARLY DETECTION OF CYANOBACTERIA AND TOXINS IN RURAL VICTORIA USING ON-SITE DETECTION FLURORESCENCE, ULTRA-VIOLET AND INFRARED SPECTROMETRYProject DescriptionOn-site testing of fluorescence sensors for detection of blue-green algae is being established at Lake Fyans, Victoria. Two sensors are to be trailed – one from Germany and a newly developed sensor from Sydney. The sensor signals will be compared to cell counts. A PhD student is also investigating the use of a wet chemistry followed by spectroscopy for detection of blue-green algae, a process that could be converted to flow injection processing.

Research SponsorsVU Research Grants Scheme

InvestigatorsMary Millikan, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

Preliminary trails of a sensor installed at Like Fyans for monitoring directly early indications of a Blue Green Algae bloom so it can be contained, in the initial stages, and prevented from becoming full scale.


EXPLORING ANAMMOX IN AUSTRALIA: A REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE WATER RECYCLINGProject descriptionIn this collaborative venture, a potentially breakthrough process to improve Australia’s water sustainability will be developed. This process, known as ‘anammox,’ has potential to succeed commercially in Australia, as has already done so in Europe, Japan and the USA. This work will bring in highly sort after anammox expertise to Australia’s water treatment experts and land the technology as the first practical trial in Victoria: a major industrial hub of the nation. As well as increasing industry water recyclability, its massive energy savings has the potential to turn water treatment into electricity production. The approach is to cultivate the naturally occurring anammox bacteria and harness them for removing nitrogen from industrial effluent. The state of the art reactor will use submerged membranes to rapidly enhance the bacterial population.

Research sponsorsEndeavour Awards Australia

InvestigatorsMostafa Golam (Endeavour Research Fellow from University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh), Mikel Duke and Thomas Yeager (Victoria University)

FUNDING TO WORK AS VISITING SCIENTIST Project DescriptionAwarded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), Australia. With this Endeavour Award, Dr Bo Zhu spent 5 months in Prof Wanqin Jin’s research group at the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, China in 2011 to continue his research on advanced titania and zeolite membranes for water treatment. Bo also expanded his research on other advanced materials such as metal organic framework (MOF) membranes during his visit.

Research SponsorsDepartment of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR)

Chief InvestigatorBo Zhu (Victoria University)

FOULING OF MEMBRANE DISTILLATION MEMBRANES IN INLAND DESALINATIONProject DescriptionThis project is focused on the need for investigating membrane fouling and cleaning for the membrane distillation process in its potentially most significant application: inland desalination. The project is in part of a project funded by the National Centre of Excellence for Desalination in partnership with the CSIRO, GWM Water, Osmoflo and Siemens Water Technologies. Po Zhang, an Osmoflo employee, is the PhD student working on this project.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED) in partnership with the CSIRO, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water), Osmoflo and Siemens Water TechnologiesInvestigatorsPo Zhang (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

HIGH WATER RECOVERY INLAND DESALINATION USING MEMBRANE DISTILLATION WITH CERAMIC MEMBRANESProject DescriptionInland desalination is a growing practice due to the increasing water needs of inland based communities and commercial operations. Conventional technologies such as reverse osmosis can be used for such purposes, although there are associated problems with fouling, power supply and brine disposal. Hence, there is a need to develop novel enabling desalination technologies that address these problems and also deliver value to inland communities and companies. This project aims to trial a new thermally based robust ceramic desalination membrane to achieve higher water recoveries at lower capital and operating cost. These ceramic membranes will be field tested using a membrane distillation pilot plant that will be built as part of this project, with a targeted production capacity of 10 litres per day. The anticipated performance and cost data from this research will be critical for scaling-up to larger trials and identifying the commercial potential for this new technology.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED)

InvestigatorsJoe da Costa (University of Qld), Mikel Duke (Victoria University), Simon Cashion (Ceramipore), Simon Smart (University of Qld)


HIGH RECOVERY ROProject DescriptionThe use of accelerated seeded precipitation to increase water recovery through RO systems treating saline wastewater was investigated. A pilot plant was commissioned at Donald, Victoria and the trials have recently concluded. The final report is available via Smart Water and GWM Water. While the process was able to increase recovery and precipitate calcium phosphate, the economics were not favourable for this water. Wastewaters that contain lower magnesium concentrations are likely to be better suited to this approach, and fundamental work to confirm this is being undertaken.

Research SponsorsGrampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water), Marrack Payne (United Utilities Australia)

InvestigatorsPeter Sanciolo, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements), Greg Leslie (UNSW), Tony Fane (UNSW), Yoram Cohen (UCLA)

HYBRID MEMBRANE MATERIALSProject DescriptionNovel PVA – silica composite materials were fabricated and tested for stability and be characterised for their salt solubility and water permeability. Pervaporation tests have demonstrated higher flux values and high salt rejection compared to similar membranes. The control of the functional free volume by inclusion of the nanoparticles was demonstrated.

Research SponsorsCSIRO

InvestigatorsZongli Xie (PhD student), Manh Hoang (CSIRO), Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

IMPROVING THE DURABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF HOLLOW FIBRE MEMBRANES WITH NANOCOMPOSITE AND INORGANIC/ORGANIC HYBRID MATERIALSProject DescriptionNanocomposite materials will be developed in partnership with Australia’s largest membrane manufacturer, Siemens Water Technologies, to produce more robust polymeric membranes. The material will feature advanced nanoparticles to offer enhanced material and membrane performance characteristics to improve wear performance.

Research SponsorsAustralian Research Council Linkage project with Siemens Water Technologies

InvestigatorsJessica Lai (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray, (Victoria University), Andrew Groth (Siemens Water Technologies)

Water recovery through RO systems


INNOVATIVE ZERO-ENERGY MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGIES TO REDUCE WATER CONSUMPTION IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRYProject DescriptionThis project aims to implement and optimise innovative membrane technologies to reduce water consumption in Australian dairy processing which don’t require added energy (zero-energy). In Victoria alone, more than 1000ML of wastewater are produced annually by the dairy industry which is high in dissolved solids. The novel process to be used in this project is membrane distillation which can desalinate waste water streams to very high standard using available waste low grade heat. Innovative setups of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis will also be explored. The types of membrane, unique milk interactions, handling fouling and appropriate operation conditions are novel contributions to membrane science and major dairy processing.

Research SponsorsAustralian Research Council Linkage project with Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd

InvestigatorsAngela Hausmann (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Peter Sanciolo, Todor Vasiljevic (Victoria University), Nohemi Quispe-Chavez, Mike Weeks (Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd)

INVESTIGATE RAPID DETECTION METHODS FOR BLUE-GREEN ALGAE FROM GRAMPIANS WIMMERA MALLEE WATER (GWM WATER)Project DescriptionThis is a two year project. Work is underway and a preliminary report on a portion of the work is being prepared. Field trials commenced in March–April 2011.

Research SponsorsGrampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

InvestigatorsMary Millikan, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

LOWERING MEMBRANE FOULING BY MATCHING PRE-TREATMENT TO MEMBRANE TYPE Project DescriptionA single fibre, constant flux, hollow fibre membrane fouling has been used to study the effect of pre-treatment on fouling of various UF membranes. The work has identified that ion exchange resin is capable of removing biopolymers from waste water, and that aggregation of biopolymer material appears to occur when small MW compounds are removed. Cleaning of hydrophobic membranes was also more efficient IX treated wastewater compared to PAC and untreated wastewater. Further work is using molecular dynamics modelling to identify possible interactions.

Research SponsorsAustralian Research Council, ORICA

InvestigatorsDarli Theint Myat (PhD student), Stephen Gray, John Orbell (Victoria University), Max Mergen, Oliver Zhao (Orica)

MEMBRANE DEGRADATIONProject DescriptionDr Marlene Cran is continuing work on the degradation and wear of membranes and other materials including rubber and polypropylene. A paper has been published in Desalination on the effect of chloramine on RO membranes in the presence of metal ions. Draft manuscripts in progress include an investigation of the effect of oxidant concentration and exposure time on degradation; the effect of chloramine on rubber sealing materials; and accelerated degradation of polypropylene in the presence of chloramine.

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran, Stephen Gray, Stephen Bigger (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements)


MEMBRANE INTEGRITYProject DescriptionScreening of potential chemical indicators of membrane integrity is continuing with the completion of the second milestone report for WQRA. A range of food and fluorescent dyes have been screened and their suitability as surrogates evaluated. Fluorescent microspheres have also undergone screening and testing on flat sheet membrane apparatus. Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoparticles will also be screened and show potential for being detected fluorescently or via light diffraction. A 50 nm hole in an RO membrane has also been formed for testing with the surrogate pathogen particles, and further membranes will be similarly prepared. A 2.5” pilot scale RO unit is also being prepared and the surrogates will be tested in this rig. Fluorescence detectors from Sydney are also being sourced. Several papers on the early work on this project are in progress.

Research SponsorsWater Quality Research Australia (WQRA), Coliban Water, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran, Stephen Gray, (Victoria University), Eddy Ostarcevic (Integrated Elements)

NEW MEMBRANE MATERIALSProject DescriptionPhD student, Ludovic Dumée, submitted and passed his PhD studies on carbon nanotube bucky-paper membranes for membrane distillation. He wrote several journal and conference papers, receiving an award at the IMSTEC conference for the best student presentation.

Research SponsorsCSIRO Textiles and Fibre Technology

InvestigatorsLudovic Dumée (PhD student), Stephen Gray, Mikel Duke (Victoria University), Kallista Sears, Jurg Schultz, Nial Finn (CSIRO)

NOVEL SEPARATION PROCESSES IN THE MINING INDUSTRYProject DescriptionThe mining industry has opportunities for improved efficiency for its sustainable operations in the adoption of novel separation systems including membrane distillation. In this project, membrane distillation is being explored as a potential means to recover acid and compared to other separation techniques. This project is sponsored and in partnership with the CSIRO Minerals Division.

Research SponsorsCSIRO

InvestigatorsUchenna Kennedy Kesieme (PhD student), Mikel Duke, Nicholas Milne (Victoria University), Hal Aral (Victoria University), Chu Yong Cheng (CSIRO)

PRACTICAL VIABILITY AND HEALTH ISSUES OF CONCENTRATING BRINE TO SOLIDS SOURCED FROM INLAND GROUNDWATER DESALINATIONProject DescriptionInland desalination is necessary in Australia to convert brackish groundwater into potable drinking water for inland communities where groundwater is the cleanest most reliable water source. However when desalination is performed, another stream is produced which contains concentrated salts which must be disposed of and can contain concentrated toxic compounds. As it should not be re-injected to the ground in Australia, the best means of handling the salty water is to dry it to solid salt crystals and extract as much useful water out as possible. This project will focus on taking concentrated salty water from Edenhope’s inland desalination plant and crystallising the salts and exploring technologies to carry this out including membrane distillation. Also included is an analysis of the toxic components such as arsenic that may lead to health issues associated with the disposal of concentrated solid salts by landfill. The quality of the salts and options for disposal will also be explored. The project aligns with Victoria University and WQRA’s Smartwater Project on membrane distillation but extends the scope towards inland zero liquid discharge bringing in the expertise from CSIRO in the area of salt crystallisation and its value adding.

Research sponsorsWater Quality Research Australia Ltd

InvestigatorsRhett Richardson (WQRA Summer Intern), Mikel Duke, Peter Sanciolo, Hal Aral (Victoria University), Paul Atherton (GWM Water)


SILICA REMOVAL FROM GROUNDWATER FOR REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER RECOVERY ENHANCEMENT AND WASTE BRINE VOLUME REDUCTION Project DescriptionHigh recovery of high silica containing waters via precipitation of silica in RO brine streams was studied at the laboratory scale. The project involves Origin Energy, Minara Resources, Hatch, Integrated Elements, The University of Texas, El Paso and Victoria University. Past work has focused on processing coal seam gas water with a view to reduce brine flows. The focus is now on Water from Minara Resources. This water is more typical of groundwaters in Victoria.

Research SponsorsNational Centre of Excellence for Desalination (NCED)

InvestigatorsPeter Sanciolo, Nicholas Milne, Stephen Gray (Victoria University)

SKYJUICE MEMBRANE INTEGRITY TESTProject DescriptionThree final year engineering students developed an integrity test for the SkyJuice water filtration unit. The students compared pressure hold test data on broken fibres with surrogate tests and developed an inexpensive, portable test kit. Report completed and submitted. Skyjuice will trial the integrity test before rolling it out.

InvestigatorsStephen Gray, Marlene Cran, Jianhua Zhang (Victoria University)

SUSTAINABLE WATER OPTIONS FOR SPORTSFIELDSProject DescriptionThis project investigated the socioeconomic impacts of restrictions and water shortage on fields currently in Melbourne and has placed a tentative value on the social value of fields. This report is available on the Smart Water website. The information package to assist ground managers with water options has been approved by Smart Water and is available on their website. The supporting software has been trialled and is available from Smartwater.


InvestigatorsNicholas Milne, Sally Weller, Stephen Gray, John Cary (Victoria University), John Tower, Kevin Zhang (RMIT)

VALIDATION FOR REUSE Project DescriptionVictoria University is part of the AWRCoE validation for reuse project and will be responsible for issues around high pressure membrane validation and for liaising with membrane suppliers. The first stage of this is a literature review with UNSW and a survey by consultation with technology suppliers. Validation of MBR’s has been raised as a priority issue. Stage 1 of this project (Streetmaps 3 and 9) was completed in October 2011. Stage 2 is currently being scoped with VU leading the proposed RO integrity project.Research SponsorsAustralian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE)

InvestigatorsStephen Gray, Marlene Cran (Victoria University)


WATER CONSERVATION BY REPLACING COOLING TOWERSProject DescriptionOver 100 GL of fresh water, or 25% of Melbourne’s water consumption, is lost annually through cooling towers in power stations and large air-conditioning systems in Victoria. This makes cooling tower one of the largest industry demands for fresh water. Currently power stations and large air-conditioning systems use cooling towers to reject waste heat. The waste heat is carried by warm water which is normally sprayed, evaporated and mixed with cooling air inside cooling towers. The cooling air together with the evaporated water is rejected to the atmosphere and thus water is lost by cooling towers. By eliminating water losses through cooling towers, valuable fresh water can be saved for Victorian communities. The aims of this project were to design and study a new waste heat rejection system which consisted of a highly compact heat exchanger made of polymer films, to study the feasibility of replacing cooling towers in power stations and large air-conditioning systems by this new system, and to establish its operational parameters. Prototype heat exchangers were constructed and trialed in VU laboratories and at Yallourn Power station, and performance aligned closely with the CFD modelling performance. An industry partner was identified for a follow up project and as a potential supplier of the heat exchanges, however, change of ownership has reduced their interest in this product.


InvestigatorsJun-De Li, Josef Rojter, Graham Thorpe, Stephen Bigger, Stephen Gray, Marlene Cran (Victoria University)


SOCIAL RESEARCH

PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSE TO DESALINATION IN AUSTRALIA (WITH DEAKIN UNIVERSITY AND MURDOCH UNIVERSITY)Project DescriptionThe project has three components: consumer perceptions of water quality changes and desalination; water professionals’ responses to feedback from the community regarding desalination plants; and social justice elements in the placement and operation of desalination plants.The project will also help develop an understanding for consumers’ perceptions of water quality and the impact of desalinated supply and changes in water sources and cost on consumer perception and behaviour.

Research SponsorsNational Centre for Excellence in Desalination (NCED)

InvestigatorsJohn Cary, Adrian Fisher, Daniel Ooi (Victoria University)

STAKEHOLDER VALUES, ATTITUDES AND EMOTION RELATED TO RECYCLED WATER (A COMPONENT OF THE EVALUATION OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES)Project DescriptionThe aim and objectives of this research are to work with the water industry to develop a national demonstration and engagement program that supports successful public engagement and addresses stakeholder concerns (in particular the media, policy makers, community and politicians) through the provision of contemporary information on potable reuse as a viable water supply option. We will develop innovative resources, based on evidence, about how to engage the community to enable informed decision making about water supply options.

The research will also further consider the extent to which the update of potable reuse in Australia is being stymied by media-driven panics that fuel an amplified cycle of misinformed public concern, stigma and political caution. The project has only just commenced.

Research SponsorsAustralian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE)

InvestigatorsJohn Cary, Adrian Fisher, Daniel Ooi (Victoria University)


FACTORS DETERMINING HABITAT SELECTION BY BIRDS IN COASTAL HABITATS IN WESTERN PORT, VICTORIAProject DescriptionA PhD project by Marta Slawuta, supervised by Paul Boon (Victoria University) and Dr Birgita Hansen (Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Heidelberg). The project will examine the way different types of coastal wetland provide habitat and food for terrestrial, shore and wading birds, and how this usage will be affected by coastal development and climate change. Field sites will be spread along Western Port. Project is funded by Victoria University, with industry contributions (cash and in kind) from The City of Casey and Parks Victoria.

Research SponsorsPhD project

InvestigatorsMarta Slawuta (PhD student), Paul Boon (Victoria University)

ECOLOGY OF WATERFOWL ON WASTEWATER TREATMENT LAGOONSProject DescriptionThis project will investigate use of wastewater treatment lagoons by ducks and swans at the Western Treatment Plant, Werribee in order to better understand how changes in sewage treatment regime may influence this nationally important bird community. An increased understanding of waterfowl needs will permit to better manage potential impacts of future changes in sewage treatment technology on birds. Investigations will focus on activity budgets and diet of ducks on various lagoons.

Research SponsorsMelbourne Water Corporation

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University)

HUMAN-WATERBIRD CONFLICTS: DETERMINATION OF SUITABLE BUFFER ZONES FOR AUSTRALIAN WATERBIRDSProject DescriptionThe impacts of human disturbance on waterbirds are not well understood and thus it is difficult for land managers to protect and conserve habitat for our native waterbird species. This project funded by Melbourne Water Corporation and The Faculty of Health Engineering and Science of Victoria University will investigate the response of waterbirds to various types of human activities and establish guidelines for buffer zones to protect waterbird habitat.

Research SponsorsVU Research Grant Scheme, C. Scarpaci, M.A. Weston (Deakin University, Birds Australia)

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay (Victoria University)

HYBRIDISATION BETWEEN MALLARDS AND BLACK DUCKS IN NEW ZEALANDHybridisation with Mallards has decimated the Black Duck population in New Zealand. Using DNA sequencing techniques, we will assess if the problem arose from Mallards introduced from Europe or North America.

Research SponsorsVictoria University of Wellington

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University)

ECOLOGY

Pacific Black ducks


IMPACTS OF CAPTIVE BREEDING ON BRAIN SIZE IN MARSUPIALSProject DescriptionThis project will investigate the impacts of captive breeding on brain size in various marsupial species including the Stripe-faced Dunnart and the Tasmanian Devil. Captive breeding in placental mammals and in waterfowl has been found to result in reduced brain size. The impacts of captive breeding on brain size have never been studied in Marsupials, but its occurrence could explain the generally poor results of reintroduction programs.

Research SponsorsThe University of Melbourne, Zoos Victoria, The Zoo and Aquarium Association and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program

InvestigatorPatrick-Jean Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University), Marissa Parrott (Zoos Victoria)

INVESTIGATING HYBRIDISATION BETWEEN PACIFIC BLACK DUCKS AND MALLARDS IN VICTORIAProject DescriptionThis project will use genetic markers to study the level of hybridisation between introduced Mallards and Pacific Black Ducks in Australia. The use of genetics rather than phenotype will allow identification of cryptic hybrids and therefore proper estimation of the rate of hybridisation. This will permit to provide management advices to state and commonwealth wildlife agencies toward the control of feral Mallard populations.

Research SponsorsMA Ingram Trust, Bird Observation and Conservation Australia & Birds Australia, Australian Bird Study Association

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay; Alice Taysom, Megan O’Shea, Joshua Johnson (Victoria University)

MANAGING DISTURBANCE TO WATER-BIRDS AT THE WESTERN TREATMENT COMPLEX: UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC PATTERNSProject DescriptionThe impacts of human disturbance on waterbirds are not well understood and thus it is difficult for land managers to protect and conserve habitat for our native waterbird species. This project, funded by Melbourne Water Corporation and the Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science, Victoria University will investigate the response of waterbirds to various types of human activities and establish guidelines for buffer zones to protect waterbird habitat.

Research SponsorsMelbourne Water Corporation; Birds Australia; FHES Collaborative Research Grant Scheme

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay, Randall Robinson (Victoria University), Mike Weston (Deakin University)

Stripe-faced Dunnart. Photograph courtesy of Marissa Parrott (Zoos Victoria)


MANGROVES AND COASTAL SALTMARSH OF VICTORIA: DISTRIBUTION, CONDITION, THREATS AND MANAGEMENTProject descriptionVictorian mangroves and coastal saltmarsh have suffered from long-term neglect by researchers, natural-resource managers and the wider community. On a State-wide basis their distribution and extent have not been mapped other than at a quite coarse scale, and little is known of their ecological condition. This 3-year project had seven components: i) review the literature on Victoria’s coastal wetlands; ii) summarise current legislative, policy and management arrangements; iii) revise the existing EVC9 Coastal Saltmarsh Aggregate typology; iv) using the revised typology, determine the current distribution, extent and condition of Victoria’s coastal wetlands. and map them at a scale of 1:10,000 and prepare an up-to-date inventory for the entire State; v) determine the pre-European extent of coastal wetlands across all of Victoria; vi) model likely climate-change impacts in Western Port; and vii) prepare a management template for coastal wetlands (using the Barwon estuary as an exemplar) that can be used by resource managers in the future. The full report (514 pages, released in June 2011) has been deposited in the National Herbariums in Melbourne and Sydney, with various Parks Victoria offices as well as the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and to all the coastal Catchment Management Authorities. It can be downloaded, as separate chapters with all appendices, at www.vu.edu.au/institute-for-sustainability-and-innovation-isi/publications.

Research sponsorsNational Heritage Trust 2 (Commonwealth) $480,000

InvestigatorsPaul Boon (Victoria University – project manager)

Tim Allen (Department of Sustainability and Environment, East Melbourne)

Geoff Carr, Andrew McMahon and Steve Mathews (Ecology Australia, Fairfield)

Doug Frood (Pathways Bushland & Environment, Greensborough)

Chris Harty (Chris Harty Planning and Environmental Management, Camperdown)

Jasmine Hoye & Jennifer Brook (Ipsos Eureka, Melbourne)

Neville Rosengren (La Trobe University, Bundoora)

Steve Sinclair & Matt White – Arthur Rylah Institute, Heidelberg)

Jeff Yugovic (Biosis Research, Port Melbourne)

Coastal saltmarsh along the western shore of Western Port, Victoria. Photograph courtesy of Tim Allen (Department of Sustainability and Environment, East Melbourne)


SATELLITE TRACKING OF GREY TEALS DISPERSING FROM THE WESTERN TREATMENT PLANT, WERRIBEEProject DescriptionGrey Teals are highly dispersive and can breed wherever water is available. Using satellite tracking, we will monitor dispersal of duck from the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee to determine the whether the site is a locally, regionally or nationally important drought refuge for Grey Teals.

Research SponsorsVU Researcher Development Grant; Melbourne Water Corporation

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay, Megan O’Shea (Victoria University)

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL HUMAN DISTURBANCE MONITORING AT THE WESTERN TREATMENT PLANTProject DescriptionThis project will investigate the behaviour and values of birdwatchers using the Western Treatment Plant to better understand the disturbance toward waterbirds that is associated with recreational use of the site.

Research SponsorsMelbourne Water

InvestigatorsPatrick-Jean Guay (Victoria University)

TOWARD A COMMUNITY UNDERSTANDING OF THE THREAT OF DOMESTIC MALLARD HYBRIDISATION WITH PACIFIC BLACK DUCKSProject DescriptionThis project will involve the preparation of taxidermied Pacific Black Duck and Mallard hybrid specimens that will be used during seminars presented to different nature enthusiast groups in an endeavour to raise the profile of the risks associated with hybridisation between Mallards and Pacific Black Ducks in Australia.

Research SponsorsField Naturalists Club of Victoria Inc.

InvestigatorPatrick-Jean Guay (Victoria University)


ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND URBANIZATION ON URBAN DRAINAGE SYSTEMSProject DescriptionClimate change is unequivocal. Today there is evidence that the average temperature of the globe is increasing. With global warming, extreme events like high intensity rainfall are increasing, which in turn leads to increase in urban flash flooding because the urban drainage systems cannot cope with the increased flows. Moreover, human induced changes in land use pattern (urbanization) causes more imperviousness, which further exacerbates the problem due to increased run-off from urban catchments. Flooding in urban areas is considerably sensitive not only to the intensity and duration of extreme events but also to the hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics of urban catchments. Based on detailed discussions with two councils in Melbourne, three key characteristics of urban catchments have been identified that represent changes due to urbanization. These are:i) Increase in imperviousness in the catchmentii) Change in storage capacity of the catchmentiii) Change in conveyance capacity of the catchment

This project aims to assess the impacts of climate change and urbanization (in terms of the above three characteristics) on urban drainage systems functionality. The project will be implemented in 3 phases. Firstly, different future climate scenarios will be generated using Global Climate Models (GCMs). A downscaling

WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Dam pumping building Water reclamation

procedure will be applied to produce precipitation for a local urban area at a high resolution to be applied into a hydrologic/hydraulic model. Secondly, urban drainage systems will be assessed using various scenarios of climate change and the three key catchment characteristics. Finally, a sensitivity analysis will be undertaken to derive the thresholds of the three catchment characteristics to maintain an appropriate level of drainage system functionality.

Research SponsorsVU PhD project

Investigators Shahram Molavi (PhD student), Nitin Muttil, Dung Tran (Victoria University)


CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF REALM WATER SUPPLY PLANNING SOFTWARE TOOL – A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENT, VICTORIAProject DescriptionSignificant effort was and is being spent on developing the REALM water supply simulation software, and enhancing the package to suit user needs. REALM simulates the harvesting and bulk distribution of water resources within a water supply system, and models the water storage behaviour due to various ‘what if’ scenarios such as increasing environmental flows. Network linear programming is used to allocate water within the supply systems. REALM has been adopted as the modelling standard for water supply planning and management in Victoria, and is extensively used also in Western Australia and South Australia, and to a lesser extent other states of Australia. REALM software and the three user manuals are available free of charge from the website www.dse.vic.gov.au/vro/water. REALM workshops are conducted at Victoria University at least once a year, and support is provided by Victoria University.

Research SponsorsDepartment of Sustainability and Environment (DSE)

InvestigatorsChris Perera (Victoria University)

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS) FOR MANAGEMENT OF URBAN STORMWATER DRAINAGE NETWORK Project DescriptionMost urban drainage infrastructure in Australia was built during the period from 1940 to 1970. They have been designed to carry runoff from catchments with low density residential or commercial areas, prevailing at the time. With rapid development and urbanisation during the last 5 decades, the catchment characteristics have changed drastically, especially the increase in impervious areas which has resulted in increased runoff from the catchments. In addition, the pipes have deteriorated both structurally and hydraulically. One major issue facing local government councils today is how to identify the upgrade needs of the network to meet the current service levels expected by the residents and to prioritise them to match the limited funds available. This research project aims to develop a DSS for the management of urban stormwater drainage networks incorporating infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrade needs as identified by stormwater pipe deterioration models, hydrological and hydraulic models, economic factors, social and legal aspects, and the effect of urbanisation. The work is conducted by Sena Abeykoon as a PhD project.


InvestigatorsSena Abeykoon (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University)


DEVELOPING A WATER SUSTAINABILITY INDEX FOR WEST JAVA, INDONESIA – PHD PROJECTProject DescriptionA water sustainability index is a useful tool to assess current water sustainability status and to prioritise water-related issues, which can be used to assist decision makers in improving water resource management. This study aims at developing a water sustainability index for West Java in Indonesia. Water resources in West Java are currently over-exploited. The National Planning and Development Council of Indonesia predicted that cities in Java Island would suffer critical water-deficit by 2025. Once developed, the West Java Water Sustainability Index (WJWSI) can be used as a tool to prioritise water-improvement programs and to increase the water sustainability awareness of various water resources stakeholders. This will eventually lead into a significant improvement of water resources management in West Java. A conceptual framework for the WJWSI was developed and the Delphi technique (which is a method to seek consensus among the selected experts through the distribution of a series of questionnaires) was used to establish the final WJWSI framework. The index was applied to three West Java catchments, which included the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of the index.

This work was undertaken by Iwan Juwana as a PhD project, and successfully completed his PhD in 2012. The work has already resulted in two journal papers, further two journal papers under review, another under preparation, and several peer reviewed national and international conference papers.

Research SponsorsAusAid; VU PhD project

InvestigatorsIwan Juwana (PhD student), Chris Perera, Nitin Muttil (Victoria University)

DEVELOPMENT OF A FORECASTING SCHEME FOR RESERVOIR INFLOWS Project DescriptionRisk based planning of multi-reservoir water supply systems relies on the ability to forecast reservoir inflows under influences of global climate change and inflow uncertainty. This research project aims to develop a forecasting scheme for reservoir inflows and assess the value of forecast information in supporting medium to long term planning of water supply systems.

Research SponsorsVU Post Doctoral project

InvestigatorsDung Tran, Chris Perera, Nitin Muttil (Victoria University)

EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON STORM INTENSITY, FREQUENCY AND DURATIONProject DescriptionClimate change is expected to have important impacts on hydrologic cycle and structures such as dams, culverts, roads, bridges and stormwater drainage systems. The evaluation of adequacy of these structures requires the Intensity-Frequency-Duration (IFD) curves of storms. However, the currently available IFD information does not consider the likely effects of climate change. This study will develop and demonstrate methodologies to construct storm IFD relationships that consider the likely effects of climate change produced by different General Circulation Models (GCMs). The project first will develop a statistical downscaling model to generate monthly rainfall data using GCM outputs up to year 2100. The temporal disaggregation models will then be developed to disaggregate monthly rainfalls to daily rainfalls, and daily rainfalls to sub-daily rainfalls up to 6 minutes. Finally, through frequency analysis, the storm IFD curves will be constructed which accounts for likely climate change. The methodology will be demonstrated using the rainfall gauging station that represents Melbourne. The work on the project is being carried as a PhD project by Safaet Hossain.


InvestigatorsSafaet Hossain (PhD student), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University)


EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL STORMWATER HARVESTING OPPORTUNITIES AND SITES IN AN URBAN DEVELOPMENTProject DescriptionThe recent drought in Australia, together with concerns about climate change and growing urban demand for water have highlighted the need for managing water resources in a more sustainable way. Stormwater harvesting is now seen as a publicly preferred and fit for use alternative water resource. This research project is aimed at developing a comprehensive methodology for evaluating stormwater harvesting sites in an urban area. A Geographical Information System (GIS) screening tool will be developed as a part of this project; it will assist the decision makers in identifying the suitable locations for stormwater harvesting based on physical criteria. The stormwater harvesting schemes at these potential locations will be evaluated against social, environmental and financial objectives to determine the most feasible stormwater harvesting schemes. This assessment will be done using Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). The Bayesian Network (BN) method will complement the MCDA method to incorporate uncertainties in stakeholder opinions on stormwater harvesting. This methodology will be immensely beneficial to water industry and community, as it will not only assist in choosing best locations for stormwater harvesting, but also will reduce the subjectivity in decision making related to stormwater harvesting issues under conflicting opinions of stakeholders. The project is conducted by the PhD student Prasad Inamdar and is financially supported by CSIRO.

Research SponsorsCSIRO Water for a Healthy Country

InvestigatorsPrasad Inamdar (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University), Ashok Sharma, Stewart Burn (CSIRO)

SCENARIO ANALYSIS OF SOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO ANALYSE ITS IMPACT ON SEWERAGE NETWORKSProject DescriptionProlonged drought which has occurred around the world has caused water shortages, leading many countries to consider more sustainable practices to ensure water availability for the future. Source Management Practices (SMPs) refer to those practices where water supply is sourced locally and wastewater discharges are utilized locally as alternative resources on a fit for purpose basis. Some studies on SMPs have revealed that the SMPs have altered the wastewater characteristics, which in turn is adversely affecting the downstream infrastructure such as sewerage networks. Most of these studies state that the implementation of SMPs decreases the wastewater flow, whilst increasing its strength, hence causing sewer problems such as blockages, odour and corrosion.

While the impact of SMPs on sewer blockage has been investigated by some studies, their impact on sewer odour and corrosion remain unknown. Therefore, this study is aimed to specifically investigate the impact of SMPs on odour and corrosion problems in sewer networks. The SMPs that are selected for this study are 1) High water demand management, 2) Greywater re-use/recycling, 3) Rainwater harvesting and 4) Sewer mining. It is well-known that the main cause of sewer odour and corrosion is hydrogen sulphide gas. Therefore, investigating the buildup of hydrogen sulphide in sewers due to the SMPs is important to investigate their impact on the problem of odour and corrosion.

This study was conducted by developing various scenarios and modelling the flow and contaminant from their source up to the sewer network for each scenario. Considering the fact that need for suitable data is crucial for flow and contaminant modelling, this study also attempts to develop a modelling framework with the limited data that is available. The main outcomes from this study are identifying the best SMP out of four selected SMPs in terms of the least chance for it to aggravate corrosion and odour problem in sewer networks. Threshold values for how much reduction in water consumption and residual discharge as well as pollutant concentration from each SMP will also be developed in this study so that these SMPs will not aggravate the problem of odour and corrosion once they are implemented.

Research SponsorsCSIRO Water for a Healthy Country

InvestigatorsNi Marleni (PhD student), Nitin Muttil, Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Ashok Sharma, Stewart Burn (CSIRO)


MULTI-OBJECTIVE PLANNING AND OPERATION OF WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS SUBJECT TO CLIMATE CHANGEProject DescriptionWater supply systems are currently undergoing significant modifications in response to climate change. Operators have limited experience with the reconfigured systems and revised water balances, and they require new operating rules. This project aims to develop methods to determine the optimum operating rules of these systems considering climate change and variability, a range of social, economic, environmental and sustainability objectives, and stakeholder preferences on these objectives. These rules will enable planners to manage their water systems more effectively under future short and long term planning conditions, and drought conditions, while reducing environmental impacts and improving sustainability. A case study of the Grampians headwork’s system in Victoria will provide the opportunity to trial methods that account for diverse stakeholder preferences in the context of climate change and climate variability, including drought events. The project is funded by an ARC Linkage grant with further funding from Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water. Two students, Sachindra Dhanapala and Walter Godoy are working on this project for their PhD degrees. Sachindra’s project is on ‘Catchment level downscaling of hydroclimatic variables from general circulation model outputs’, while Walter’s project is on ‘Multi-Objective Optimisation of Water Supply Systems: A Shared Vision’.

Research SponsorsAustralia Research Council (ARC), Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)

InvestigatorsSachindra Dhanapala, Walter Godoy (PhD students), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University), Andrew Barton (GWMWater)

CATCHMENT LEVEL DOWNSCALING OF HYDROCLIMATIC VARIABLES FROM GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL OUTPUTS Project DescriptionDue to recent droughts, the Grampian-Wimmera-Mallee headwork’s system experienced a large drop in inflows to its reservoirs. Recently, the inefficient open channel transmission network has been replaced with a pipeline. Due to this system reconfiguration, the operating rules need to be revisited. Development of daily optimized operating rules requires daily hydro-climatic data which also accounts for climate change. The aim of this research is to predict daily streamflows, precipitation, temperature and evaporation at strategic points in the catchment, from outputs of several General Circulation Models up to year 2100. Monthly GCM outputs will be downscaled statistically to catchment scale hydroclimatic variables with Support Vector Machine. Then these monthly data will be disaggregated to daily scale with the method of fragments. The research will employ downscaling models based on 12 calendar months enabling a better capture of hydroclimatic variables in terms of their extreme values. This project is being conducted as a PhD project by Sachindra Dhanapala.

Research SponsorsVU PhD project, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater)

InvestigatorsSachindra Dhanapala (PhD student), Chris Perera, Fuchun Huang (Victoria University), Andrew Barton (GWM Water)


NON-RESIDENTIAL URBAN WATER DEMAND FORECASTING FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT Project DescriptionWater demand modelling plays a key role in urban water resource planning and management, e.g., water and wastewater facility scheduling and planning, water conservation program evaluation, and water pricing policy assessment. There are several urban water demand forecasting models available in the world. Most of these models forecast total urban water demand with more emphasis on residential water demand. Urban water demand consists of both residential and non-residential water demand, and a significant portion of water usages is non-residential (e.g., around 30% of total water demand in Melbourne). However, there is not much attention given to forecasting non-residential demand. The proposed project aims to develop forecasting model for non-residential water demand for use in short term planning (1 to 5 year time scale) of urban water resource systems. This will be achieved in this study by disaggregating non-residential water demand into seasonal and non-seasonal water demand, and further disaggregating seasonal demand into climate dependent and independent demand. Furthermore, it is proposed to use the above disaggregation approach at the finest spatial cluster as possible (e.g. local government council level or land use polygon level). All developed models will be implemented in a GIS based user interface. The application of this project will be tested over the Yarra Valley Water (YVW) service area as case study.

Research SponsorsVU PhD project, Yarra Valley Water

InvestigatorsSuchana Barua (PhD student), Anne Ng, Shobha Muthukumaran, Chris Perera (Victoria University), Peter Roberts (Yarra Valley Water)

PROACTIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR SEWERAGE ASSETS Project DescriptionThis research project investigates the deterioration of sewers and manholes using different modelling techniques. This is a collaborative research project in which VU is a sub-contractor to a joint research project between CSIRO and United Water, a sewer operator in South Australia. This project was successfully completed in 2009 and resulted in two journal publications.

Research SponsorsCSIRO and United Water

InvestigatorsCSIRO, United Water and Dung Tran (Victoria University)

QUANTIFICATION OF NON POINT SOURCE POLLUTION IN YARRA RIVER CATCHMENTProject DescriptionNon-Point Source (NPS) pollution can come from many different sources, and is difficult to monitor the exact source and its pollution generation, unlike point source pollution. Agricultural non-point sources of pollution of the Yarra River include pesticides, fertilisers, animal manure and soil washed into stream banks. Recent studies into the agricultural section of the Yarra River have shown that the water quality is good in the upper reaches of the section but steadily declines towards the lower reaches. These studies have shown that the levels of pH, TP, salinity and dissolved oxygen are generally satisfactory throughout the agricultural section; however the levels of TN and turbidity does not comply with the State Environment Protection Policy. The aim of this project is to develop a non-point source model which can be integrated into a river water quality model of the Yarra River Basin which will assist in determining the levels of the pollution generated from the agricultural land use, and enable the identification of best management practices (BMPs) that could be implemented to reduce the level of pollution from these areas from entering the river.


InvestigatorsSushil Das (PhD student), Anne Ng, Chris Perera (Victoria University)


STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TO DETECT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON WATER RESOURCES Project DescriptionClimate change has affected diverse physical and biological systems worldwide and its impact on water resources is one of the most important. This study used statistical techniques to detect the climatic patterns and changes in the past. There two types of changes observed in climatic variables, which are abrupt change (or step change) and trend (or gradual change). To detect these changes, a number of statistical tests were selected. The most accurate tests from amongst them were chosen for each type of change based on an analysis carried out using hypothetical data. The change detection for real data was carried out using these selected tests.

Even though there are several hydro-climatic variables impacted by climate change, only two major influencing variables, rainfall and temperature, were selected for this study. The Yarra River catchment was selected as the case study catchment because it is a major source of water supply for Melbourne. The change analysis results from this study have identified the past changes that occurred in the climatic system as well as the current climatic conditions. Based on the current trends, this study suggests a warmer, drier and more extreme climate over the catchment. Decreasing rainfall patterns may lead to reduced health of waterways due to changes in base flows. This could lead to negative water quality impacts in Port Phillip Bay due to increased concentration of pollutants and higher water temperatures in the Bay. The increase in extreme rainfall events could lead to more frequent flash floods in urban areas, as the stormwater drainage system may not be able to cope with the increased flows.

This project was conducted as a Master’s project by S. Sithranjan and the thesis was submitted for external examination in 2011. Very positive examiner comments were received in late 2011.

Research SponsorsVU Masters project

InvestigatorsSithranjan Shanmugasundam (Masters student), Nitin Muttil, Chris Perera (Victoria University)

USE OF REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR GENERATION OF STREAMFLOW IN DATA-POOR REGIONSProject DescriptionGround networks of hydrological measuring stations are often sparse. The quality of data collected is also often poor and access to available data may be limited due to institutional and political barriers. This results in lack of streamflow time series data, which are essential for water resources assessment, estimating environmental flows and availability of water for agriculture, and various other types of water resources and hydrological analyses. Nilantha Gamage is working on this project for his PhD. Case studies are on the Thomson catchment in Victoria and the Blue Nile catchment in Africa. He is expected to finish his PhD by the end of 2012.

Research SponsorsInternational Water Management Institute (IWMI); VU PhD project

InvestigatorsNilantha Gamage (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University), Vladmir Smakhtin (IWMI)


WATER GRID ISSUES – PHD PROJECTProject DescriptionWater Grid is an emerging concept in the Australian water industry as a potential solution for addressing water scarcity in major cities. In general, a water grid comprises with a network of reversible pipelines to connect major bulk water sources in a region to allow water from areas of water surplus to be moved to areas that face a shortfall. By connecting region’s major water sources, water treatment plants and bulk water transport networks, a grid will enable the co-ordination of delivery of urban and industrial water supplies across a region. In addition, a grid allows risk to be managed at a regional level rather on an individual source basis. Since water grid is an emerging concept, there are many unknowns such as water quality implications of mixing and blending of water sourced from multiple sources within a network; operation of reversible pipelines; energy implications transporting water against gravity and how to minimise energy usage and carbon footprint; optimal movement of water across the region to maximise resource usage while maintaining environmental flows and minimising carbon footprint; possibility of urban/rural water trading and implication of trading on management of water grid, etc. Sea water desalination plants are also elements of a water grid. There are also opportunities for integrating stormwater, rainwater and wastewater recycling into water grids. The primary objective in this study is to develop methods and techniques for determining optimal movement of water across the water grid to maximise resource usage while maintaining environmental flows and minimising energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Stephanie Ashbolt, a CSIRO employee has started her PhD on a part-time basis to work on water grid issues. Her candidature was confirmed in March 2011.

Research SponsorsCSIRO/VU PhD project

InvestigatorsStephanie Ashbolt (PhD student), Chris Perera (Victoria University), Shiroma Maheepala (CSIRO)

HYDRO-METEOROLOGICAL TREND ANALYSIS TO DETECT EXISTING EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN GEDIZ BASIN, TURKEYProject DescriptionGediz Basin, located in western Turkey, is one of the most significant water basins in Turkey. Gediz River flows from east to west into the Aegean Sea. It is about 275 km long with a drainage area of approximately 17,200 km2. Water of the basin is excessively used to meet agricultural, residential and industrial demands in western Turkey. It is reported by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and local studies that regions under Mediterranean climate are the most vulnerable parts of Turkey in terms of climate change effects. Aegean region including Gediz Basin shows characteristics of Mediterranean climate. Thereby, it is high necessity to perform climate change impacts studies in this region. The first step of hydrological impact studies is to investigate hydro-meteorological trends to detect existing effects of climate change. In this study, trends in precipitation, temperature and streamflows are investigated by using both parametric and non-parametric tests by focusing on upstream of Gediz Basin where the largest dam of the Basin, Demirkopru Dam, is located. It is aimed to provide beneficial information for future studies including future climate projections, future water availability projections and modifications on operation of Demirkopru Dam. This study has been conducted as a MSc project by Elnaz Bodaghkani at Heriot-Watt University and she is expected to complete her MSc in August, 2012.

Research SponsorsHeriot-Watt University Masters Project

InvestigatorsElnaz Bodaghkani (MSc student), Abdullah Yilmaz (Victoria University)


BIODEGRADABILITY ANALYSIS OF POLYSTYRENE SAMPLES UNDER TEST METHOD Project DescriptionA test method for determining the biodegradability of new polystyrene from Rema industries is being undertaken. Based on ASTM D5511, samples of modified polystyrene beverage cups and lids are being tested under anaerobic conditions.

Research SponsorsRema Industries, Sleevers

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran, Stephen Gray, Stephen Bigger (Victoria University), Michel Lefebvre (Steripak)

EVALUATION OF ADHESIVE LABELS ON PRODUCT TUBES FOR IMPACT INTERNATIONALProject DescriptionPressure sensitive adhesive labels on product tubes supplied by Impact International were reported to have wrinkled and creased after storage at a supplier’s warehouse. This project evaluated the adhesive to determine a potential cause of the observed defect. Report completed and submitted

Research SponsorsImpact International Pty Ltd

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran (Victoria University)

CONSULTANCIES

TESTING SNACK FOOD PACKS FOR PACKIT INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING (QLD) P/LProject DescriptionTesting the integrity of packaged snack food products reported to have stalled during transport overseas. Report completed and submitted.

Research SponsorsPackit Industrial Packaging (Qld) P/L

InvestigatorsMarlene Cran (Victoria University)


HONOURS AND AWARDS

[left] Dr Jianhua Zhang and Professor Peter Dawkins

Dr Jianhua Zhang won the Research Degree Graduate of the year and received the category peak award at the 2011 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards. Dr Zhang completed his PhD with ISI in just under 3 years. He published 7 papers on membrane distillation, focusing on the effect of membrane compressibility on performance. Dr Zhang is now working with ISI on a NCEDA funded membrane distillation project to treat RO brines.

Drs Anne Ng, Nitin Muttil, Professor Peter Dawkins, Professor Chris Perera, Dr Shobha Muthukumuran, Dr Dung Tran


Professor Chris Perera, Professor Stephen Gray, Drs Nitin Muttil, Anne Ng, Huu Tran, Shobha Muthukumaran and Funchun Huang won the 2011 Vice Chancellor Peak Award in the Excellence in Research and Research Training (Research Team) category for their citation For sustained and examplary team effort in developing integrated solutions to urban water resource challenges through effective collaboration with water industry and postgraduate training.

Associate Professor Todor Vasiljevic also won the 2011 Vice Chancellor Peak Award in the Excellence in Research and Research Training (Research for Staff) category for his citation For examplary research in the field of food processing and distribution over the last 20 years through collaboration with national and international researchers and industry partners.

Rhett Richardson, the 2010 WQRA summer scholarship recipient at Victoria University was the second prize winner for the Summer Student presentations at the WQRA February Members meeting during 24-25 February 2011. His project was entitled Practical viability and health issues of concentrating brine to solids sourced from inland groundwater desalination.

Professor Stephen Gray was voted onto the WQRA board during the WQRA Annual General Meeting held on 28th October, Sydney.

Professor John Orbell is currently sitting on the EPA Panel for the Appointment of Environmental Auditors (by invitation).

Professor Paul Boon was nominated by the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies and on 21 June 2011 appointed by the Federal Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and

Communities (Tony Burke) to the Alligator Rivers Region Technical Committee. The Alligator Rivers region covers the northern coast of the Northern Territory, and includes Kakadu National Park.

Chi Lai, PhD student with ISI had been awarded the 2011 NCEDA Supplementary Scholarship by the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia.

Dr Patrick Guay and Dr Megan O’Shea were selected by the Theo Murphy Fund to participate in the Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank titled Stressed ecosystems: better decisions for Australia’s future, Brisbane, 29–30 September 2011.

Following discussions at the Bioenergy Australia, Victoria University has been formally invited to join their government-industry forum. Bioenergy Australia was set up as the Biomass Taskforce on 1 July 1997 by a group of Federal Government organisations to provide a forum and focus to stimulate and promote the development of biomass energy in Australia. Membership of the Bioenergy Australia has subsequently been expanded to include representation from other sectors, including state government organisations, the private sector, industry organisations and universities. Eighty-six organisations are currently participating in Bioenergy Australia.

Christina Knorr, final year Mechanical Engineering student with VU was offered a summer scholarship with the NCEDA and Murdoch University.

AWA’s National Awards Program selected the paper Membrane Distillation of Industrial Wastewater (Noel Dow, Stephen Gray, Jun-De Li, Eddy Ostarcevic, Rohan Barron, Audra Liubinas, Paul Atherton, David Halliwell, Mikel Duke) as a finalist for best Ozwater’11 paper award.

A/Prof Mikel Duke (VU), Rhett Richardson, Paul Atherton (Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water)


CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS CONDUCTED

An Environmental Sustainable Manufacturing training course was held for local industry, and was funded by the Department of Business and Innovation (DBI) and hosted by Victoria University. The workshop was presented by Dr Darrell Reeve for the BBL-Group. Companies involved were Alex Fraser, Cargill, Nestle, Wilcox Metal Finishing and Worthington Industries. The program involved 2 x 4 hour training sessions at the Institute for Sustainability and Innovation plus 3 visits to each site for waste minimization assessments and development of an environmental action plan.

Dr Darrell Reeve conducted the Environmental Sustainability Group workshop on 28 September 2011 at the Werribee Campus.

Dr Darrell Reeve conducted the 2nd part of the Environmental Sustainability Group workshop on 26 October 2011 at the Werribee Campus.

ISI in conjunction with Smart Water Fund, Water Quality Research Australia, City West Water and GWM Water, conducted an industry site tour demonstrating Membrane Distillation, at the Newport Power station, 6 December 2011.

Dr. Jing He (Centre for Applied Informatics, Faculty of Health Engineering and Science, VU) chaired a workshop at the 10th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining. The 2010 Workshop on Optimization Based Methods for Emerging Data Mining Problems (OEDM’10) was held at UTS Haymarket Campus, Haymarket, Building 5, Level 1, 5B.1.12, University of Technology, Sydney on December 14, 2010. OEDM ‘10 attracted 22 authors from 13 countries who gave presentations at the one-day workshop. Dr. Jing He was the co-chair working with Prof. Chris Ding (University of Texas at Arlington, USA), Prof. Yong Shi (University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA and Chinese Academy of Science, China).

Newport Power Station


Dr Tirivanhu Chinyoka (University of Cape Town) Fluid Viscoelasticity, Modelling and Effects in Physical Flow Situations

Uchenna Kennedy Kesieme (Victoria University) Mine Wastewater Treatment, and Acid and By-Product Recovery

Rhett Richardson (Victoria University) Practical viability and health issues of concentrating brine to solids sourced from inland groundwater desalination

Professor Bikash Chandra Ghosh (Victoria University) Incorporation of Bioactive Peptides for Healthy Milk Beverages

Dr Jing He (Victoria University) Developing Intelligent Water Networks based on Context-aware Web Service

Professor Paul Boon (Victoria University) Salinity in the Gippsland Lakes: some lessons for community monitoring from our recent R&D projects

Dr Robbert van Oorschot (GHD) GHD and their R&D

Dr Nicholas Milne (Victoria University) Introduction to the Scanning Electron Microscope at Victoria University: Theory

Yaoxin Hu (Nanjing University of Technology in China) Development of multifunctional titania membranes for water treatment

Adjunct Professor Syed Hussainy (Victoria University) Bio-fuel from human and animal wastes to substitute fossil fuel

Noel Dow (Victoria University) Membrane Distillation of Industrial Wastewater

Chathuri Piyadasa (Victoria University) Current progress in real-time monitoring of reverse osmosis membranes

Dr Marlene Cran (Victoria University) A review of cleaning practices of desalination membranes

SEMINARS

Associate Professor Mikel Duke (Victoria University) Advanced zeolitic structures for water treatment and sensor applications

Mr Nilantha Gamage (Victoria University) An Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Streamflow Using Remote Sensing Data.

Stephanie Ashbolt (Victoria University) Optimal operation of water grids

Ni Nyoman Nepi Marleni (Victoria University) The Impact of Residential Source Management Practices (SMPs) on Sewer Pipe : A Review

Peter Hillis (Technical Director - Water Treatment, AECOM) Combined coagulation to control fouling in MF and UF.

Dr Harry Ridgway (Consulting Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University AquaMem Consultants, Rodeo, New Mexico, USA) Simulate Oxidation of Water Purification Systems.

Naheed Malik (RMIT) An investigation into the Chemistry and Biology of Salinity Gradient Solar Ponds in relation to their Stability and Efficiency

Dr Jianhua Zhang (Victoria University) Mathematic model for analysis of evaporation ratio under different conditions in DCMD

Suchana Barua (Victoria University) Non-Residential Urban Water Demand Forecasting for Water Resources Planning and Management

Dr Minh Nguyen (CSIRO) Climate change impacts and adaptations for steel and concrete infrastructure in Australia

Professor Thomas A Davis (University of Texas, El Paso) ZDD technology for low brine discharge systems

Christine Schafers (Münster University of Applied Sciences) Cleaning of Membrane Distillation Membranes in Dairy Applications

Ying He (University of Poitiers, France) Process energy evaluation in pervaporation separation of aqueous salt solution


Dr Patrick Guay (Victoria University) Quantifying and predicting the impacts of human disturbance on waterbirds

Dr Aaron Thornton (CSIRO) Computational Design of Porous Materials

Associate Professor Mostafa Golam (University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh) Startup of anammox process from anaerobic sludge in a submerged membrane bioreactor and effect of substrate concentrations on treatment performance

Dr Manh Hoang (CSIRO) Industrial Emission Control and Treatment

Dr Peter Sanciolo (Victoria University) Enhancement of Reverse Osmosis Water Recovery Using Calcium Precipitation

Mark Humphries and colleagues (GE Energy Services) GE’s database program for network management at Footscray Park

Dr Matthew Stewart (Victoria University) The fouling of Hydrophobic Membranes by Hydrophilic Alginates: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Dr Bo Zhu (Victoria University) MFI-type Zeolite Membranes for Desalination

Dr Dung Tran (Victoria University) Selection of Renewal Techniques Based on Condition Prediction Models and Life-Cycle Analysis for Water Infrastructure Pipelines

Dr Lata Ramchandran (Victoria University) Improving cheese starter culture fermentation processes using novel membrane systems

Robin Degginger (Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg, Germany) Synthesis and characterisation of acrylic nanoparticles

VISITORS TO THE INSTITUTE

Associate Professor Golam Mostafa from the Institute of Environmental Science, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, was awarded an Endeavour Award Fellowship to undertake research at Victoria University’s Institute for Sustainability and Innovation on the Anammox process for wastewater treatment project. Golam worked with Associate Professor Mikel Duke from the Institute for Sustainability and Innovation and Dr Thomas Yeager from the School of Engineering and Science.

OVERSEAS STUDENT VISITSHe Ying University of Poitiers, France

Christine Delayre University of Poitiers, France

Christine Schafers Münster University of Applied Sciences

Cathy Martine Lina Frantz Technical University of Munich

Robin Degginger Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg, Germany

Lesley Wiadrowki University of New England

William Collins Loughborough University


Professor John Cary, 55th Annual AARES National Conference, 8–11 February 2011, Melbourne

Professor Stephen Gray, Associate Professor Mikel Duke, Dr Peter Sanciolo, Dr Jianhua Zhang, and PhD students Eddy Ostarcevic, Darli Myat, Jessica Lai and Bernard Agana, Membranes and Desalination Speciality Conference IV, 8–11 February 2011, Gold Coast.

Professor Paul Boon presented at the joint Melbourne Water–Department of Sustainability and Environment workshop on the future of Western Port Bay, at Pakenham on 5 April 2011. Paul spoke on the ecological, economic and social values of mangroves and coastal saltmarsh, of which Western Port supports some of the best developed wetlands in the State. Over 200 people attended the workshop, with other speakers drawn from the University of Melbourne, Deakin University, DSE, and the University of Western Australia.

Professor Paul Boon participated in the annual ‘Gippsland Coast Action workshop’, run by the Department of Sustainability and Environment out of their Yarram office in South Gippsland. The weekend workshop, held on 9 and 10 April, was for community and volunteer groups involved in Coast Care activities along the Gippsland Coast. Paul and Dr Neville Rosengren, a geomorphologist from the University of Ballarat, were the two keynote speakers.

Professor John Cary, Australia 21, 13–14 April 2011, Canberra.

Associate Professor Mikel Duke, Asia Pacific Coalbed Methane Symposium 2011, 3–6 May, Brisbane.

Associate Professor Mikel Duke, Dr Nicholas Milne and Noel Dow, OzWater 2011, 9–11 May, Adelaide

Professor Stephen Gray participated in the Smart Water “Think tank” to help set the future research agenda for Smart Water.

Professor Stephen Gray and Dr Marlene Cran, NatVal Inception Workshop, 4–5 May, Sydney.

Professor Paul Boon presented a lunch-time seminar to over 50 staff and students at the Australian Rivers Institute on Victorian coastal vegetation, 27 May, Griffith University, Brisbane.

Professor Stephen Gray attended and presented at the AWA Australian Desalination Project Update dinner seminar on 2 June 201. There were approximately 100 attendees there to hear about the Victorian, Adelaide and Perth Desalination projects, and about desalination research in Australia.

Professor Stephen Gray IWA Membrane and Biofouling Meeting, 1–3 July, Singapore.

Professor Stephen Gray was a guest speaker at Universidade Nacional Timor-Loro Sa’e (UNTL); 4–5 July, Dili, East Timor.

Chi Lai (PhD student), Synchrotron and Neutron New Users Symposium, 7–8 July, Sydney

Professor Paul Boon gave a presentation at the Gippsland Coastal Forum, Gippsland, 18–20 July 2011

Nilantha Gamage (PhD student), Dr Nitin Muttil, Professor Chris Perera, Nyoman Marleni (PhD student)

CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP ATTENDANCE AND INVITED LECTURES


Professor Chris Perera and Dr Nitin Muttil, 34th International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) World Congress, Brisbane, 26 June to 1 July 2011. Three PhD students from the Faculty Research Group (FRG) on Water Resources, Nyoman Marleni, Stephanie Ashbolt and Nilantha Gamage, also presented their work at the conference.

Professor John Cary and Dr Daniel Ooi, Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoe) workshop, 13–14 July 2011, Brisbane.

Professor Stephen Gray and Dr Marlene Cran, NatVal workshop, 26–28 July 2011, Sydney.

Associate Professor Mikel Duke gave a talk on Inorganic membranes and sensors for water treatment during his visit to Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 1 August 2011, Israel.

Professor Paul Boon gave a presentation on Management threats facing Victorian coastal wetlands to the Department of Environment & Heritage, Goulburn Street, 8 August 2011, Sydney.

Professor Paul Boon gave a presentation on Distribution and ecology of coastal saltmarsh in south-eastern Australia to the National Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, 8 August 2011, Sydney.

Professor John Cary, Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference 2011, 29 August to 3 September 2011, London, UK.

Professor Stephen Gray, International Desalination Association World Congress (IDA) and grand opening of Rockingham Desalination Research Facility, 4–9 September 2011, Perth.

Associate Professor Mikel Duke, From toilet to tap workshop, 6 October 2011, Melbourne Materials Institute.

Professor Stephen Gray, Angela Hausmann (PhD student), International Workshop on Membrane Distillation and Related Technologies, 9-–12 October 2011, Ravello, Italy

Professor Stephen Gray, Associate Professor Mikel Duke and PhD students Chi Lai and Uchenna Kesieme, 2nd Annual Symposium for early career researchers, 23–25 November, Adelaide.


PUBLICATIONS

HERDC RECOGNISEDBook chaptersM.C. Duke, J.C. Diniz da Costa, G.Q. (Max) Lu, P.G. Gray Silica Membranes in Fuel Cell Systems, Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol 23: Pages (143–161). ISBN: 1-58883-188-4

Gray S, Semiat R, Duke M, Rahardianto A and Cohen Y (2011) Seawater Use and Desalination Technology. In: PeterWilderer (ed.) Treatise on Water Science vol. 4, pp. 73–109 Oxford: Academic Press. ISBN: 9780444531933

J. O’Brien-Abraham, M. Duke and Y.S. Lin, Xylene separation performance of composition-gradient MFI zeolite membranes, in Inorganic, Polymeric and Composite Membranes – Structure, Function and Other Correlations, Eds. S.T. Oyama and S.M. Stagg-Willams, Elsevier, pp.195–212 (2011)

OthersBoon PI (2011). Saltmarshes. In Understanding the Western Port environment: a summary of current knowledge and priorities for future research. pp: 116–135. Melbourne Water, East Melbourne. ISBN 978-1-921911-16-3.

HERDC RECOGNISEDJournalsA. Agana, D. Reeve and J. D. Orbell, Optimization of the operational parameters for a 50 nm ZrO2 ceramic membrane as applied to the ultrafiltration of post-electrdeposition rinse wastewater, 2011, Desalination.

Alice Antony, Jor How Low, Stephen Gray, Amy E. Childress, Pierre Le-Clech, Greg Leslie, Scale formation and control in high pressure membrane water treatment systems: A review. Journal of Membrane Science, 383 (2011) 1–16.

Ayyash**, Mutamed , F Sherkat*, P Francis*, R.P.W. Williams* and Nagendra Shah (2011) The effect of sodium chloride substitution with potassium chloride on texture profile and microstructure of Halloumi cheese. Journal of Dairy Science. 94 (1): 37–42.

Barua, S., Ng, A.W.M and Perera, B. J. C. Comparative Evaluation of Drought Indices: A Case Study on the Yarra River Catchment in Australia, ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, Vol. 137, No. 2, 2011, pp. 215–226.

Boon, Paul (2011) Rehabilitation of paperbark-dominated wetlands of the Gippsland Lakes Ramsar site, Victoria. Wetlands Australia: National Wetlands Update 2011. 19: 14–15.

Cary, John and Anna Roberts* (2011) The Limitations of Environment Management Systems in Australian Agriculture. Journal of Environmental Management. 92 (3): 878–885.

Cran, M. J., Bigger, S. W., & Gray, S. R. (2011). Degradation of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes in the presence of chloramine. Desalination, 283, 58–63.

Cran, M. J., Gray, S. R., Scheirs, J. and Bigger, S. W. (2011). Non-isothermal depolymerisation kinetics of poly(ethylene oxide). Polymer Degradation and Stability 96(8): 1497–502.

Cowling, M. and Guay, P.-J. (2011) Seasonal variation in the gular lobe of a male Musk Duck Biziura lobata. Australian Field Ornithology. Australian Field Ornithology, 28: 88–91.

Dow, N and M Duke (2011) The Potential for Membrane Distillation of Industrial Wastewaters. Water. 38 (6): 78–82.

Dumée, L., Germain, V., Sears, K., Schutz, J., Finn, N., Duke, M., Cornu, D. and Gray, S. (2011) Enhanced durability and hydrophobicity of carbon nanotube bucky paper membranes in membrane distillation. Journal of Membrane Science, 376, 241–246.

Dumee**, Ludovic , Jos Campbell*, Kallista Sears*, Jurg Schutz*, Niall Finn*, Mikel Duke and Stephen Gray (2011) The Impact of Hydrophobic Coating on the Performance of Carbon Nanotube Bucky-Paper Membranes in Membrane Distillation. Desalination. (283): 64–67.

Dumee, Ludovic , Kallista Sears*, Jurg Schutz*, Niall Finn*, Mikel Duke and Stephen Gray (2011) A Preliminary Study on the Effect of Macro Cavities Formation on the Properties of Carbon Nanotube Bucky-Paper Composites. 0Materials. (4): 553–561.

Feketeova, E. Yuriev, J.D. Orbell, G.N. Khairallah and R.A.J. O’Hair, 2011, Gas Phase Formation and Reactions of Radical Cations of Guanosine, Deoxyguanosine and their Homo and Hetero Dimers, International Journal of Mass Spectrometry (IJMS), 2011, 304, 74–82


Gray, S R, N Dow, J D Orbell, T Tran* and B A Bolto* (2011) The significance of interactions between organic compounds on low pressure membrane fouling. Water and Science Technology. 64 (3): 632–639.

Guangyan Huang, Yanchun Zhang, Jing He and Jinli Cao, Fault Tolerance in Data Gathering Wireless Sensor Networks, The Computer Journal.

Guay, P.-J. (2011) An aberrant plumaged Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea) with a white neck-ring. Corella, 35: 57–58.

Guay, P -J, M Parrott* and L Selwood* (2011) Captive breeding does not alter brain volume in a marsupial over a few generations. Zoo Biology. 31 (1): 1–5.

Hadwen*, Wade , Angela Artthington*, Paul Boon, Brett Taylor* and Christine Fellow* (2011) Do Climatic or Institutional Factors Drive Seasonal Patterns of Tourism Visitation to Protected Areas Across Diverse Climate Zones in Eastern Australia? Tourism Geographics. 13 (2): 187–208.

Hausmann**, Angela , Peter Sanciolo, Todor Vasiljevic, Ponnampalam Elankovan*, Chavez Nohemi-Quispe*, Mike Weeks* and Duke Mikel (2011) Direct Contact Membrane Distillation of Dairy Process Streams. Membranes. 48–58.

Hu, Yaoxin, Nicholas Milne, Stephen Gray, Gayle Morris*, Wanqin Jin*, Mikel Duke and Bo Zhu (2011) Combined TiO2 Membrane Filtration and Ozonation for Efficient Water Treatment to Enhance the Reuse of Wastewater. Desalination and Water Treatment. 34 (1–3): 57–62.

Hwang*, Ho Jun, Ke He*, Stephen Gray, Jianhua Zhang and Il Shik Moon* (2011) Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD): Experiment Study on the Commercial PTFE Membrane and Modelling. Journal of Membrane Science. 371: 90–98.

Kuorwel, K. K., Cran, M. J., Sonneveld, K., Miltz, J. and Bigger, S. W. (2011). Antimicrobial Activity of Biodegradable Polysaccharide and Protein-Based Films Containing Active Agents. Journal of Food Science 76(3): R90–R102

Kuorwel, K. K., Cran, M. J., Sonneveld, K., Miltz, J., & Bigger, S. W. (2011). Antimicrobial activity of natural agents against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Packaging Technology and Science, 24(5), 299–307

Kuorwel, K.K., M.J. Cran, K. Sonneveld, J. Miltz, and S.W. Bigger, Antimicrobial Activity of Natural Agents Coated on Starch-based Film Against Staphylococus aureus. Journal of Food Science, 2011. 76(8), M531–M537

Kuorwel, K. K., Cran, M. J., Sonneveld, K., Miltz, J., & Bigger, S. W. (2011). Essential oils and their principal constituents as antimicrobial agents for synthetic packaging films. Journal of Food Science, 76(9), R164–R177.

Lai**, Chi Yan, Andrew Groth*, Stephen Gray and Mikel Duke (2011) Investigation of the Dispersion of Nanoclays into PVDF for Enhancement of Physical Membrane Properties. Desalination and Water Treatment. 34: 251–256.

Millikan, M., Zu, H., & Trevean, H. (2011) Metal Analysis of Si Wu Tang in Relation to its Clinical Application, Aust J Acupuncture and Chinese Med., 6(2), 12–18.

Mrayed*, S M, P Sanciolo, L Zou* and G Leslie* (2011) An alternative membrane treatment process to produce low-salt and high-nutrient recycled water suitable for irrigation purposes. Desalination. 274 (1–3): 144–149.

S. Muthukumaran, K. Baskaran and N. Patterson, Quantification of potable water savings by residential water conservation and reuse – A case study, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55 (2011) 945– 952

S. Muthukumaran, ,Duy Anh Nguyen , Kanagaratnam Baskaran, Performance evaluation of different ultrafiltration membranes for the reclamation and reuse of secondary effluent, Desalination, 279 (2011) 383–389.

Ramchandran, L and N P Shah (2011) Yogurt Can Beneficially Affect Blood Contributors of Cardiovascular Health Status in Hypertensive Rats. Journal of Food Science. 76 (4): H131–H136.

Raulings*, Elisa, Kay Morris*, Michael Roache* and Paul Boon (2011) Is Hydrological Manipulation an Effective Management Tool for Rehabilitating Chronically Flooded, Brackish–Water Wetlands?. Freshwater Biology Online. 56: 2347–2369.

Skyllas-Kazacos*, M and N Milne (2011) Evaluation of iodide and titanium halide redox couple combinations for common electrolyte redox flow cell systems. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry. 41 (10): 1233–1243.

Stockham**, Katherine , Rohani Paimin, John Orbell, Paul Adorno* and Saman Buddhadasa* (2011) Modes of handling oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) data and reporting values in product labelling. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 24 (4–5): 686–691.


Xie**, Zongli , Derrick Ng*, Manh Hoang*, Tuan Duong* and Stephen Gray (2011) Separation of Aqueous Salt Solution by Pervaporation through Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Membrane: Effect of Operating Conditions. Desalination. 273: 220–225.

Xie**, Zongli , Buu Dao*, Jonathan Hodgkin*, Manh Hoang*, Anita Hill* and Stephan Gray (2011) Synthesis and Characterization of Hybrid Organic Inorganic Materials Based on Sulphonated Polyamideimide and Silica. Journal of Polymer Science. 18 (5): 965–973.

Xie**, Zongli , Manh Hoang*, Tuan Duong*, Derrick Ng*, Buu Dao* and Stephen Gray (2011) Sol-Gel Derived Poly (Vinyl, Alcohol) Maleic Acid/Silica Hybrid Membrane for Desalination by Pervaporation. Journal of Membrane Science. 383: 96--03

Zhang, Jianhua , Jun-De Li and Stephen Gray (2011) Effect of Applied Pressure on Performance of PTFE Membrane in DCMD. Journal of Membrane Science. 369: 514–525.

Zhang, Jianhua , Jun-De Li and Stephen Gray (2011) Researching and Modelling the Dependence of MD flux on Membrane Dimension for Scale-Up Purpose. Desalination and Water Treatment. 31: 144–150.

Zhu, Bo , Hu Yaoxin, Stephen Kennedy**, Nicholas Milne, Gayle Morris*, Wanqin Jin*, Stephen Gray and Mikel Duke (2011) Dual Function Filtration and Catalytic Breakdown of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater Using Ozonation with Titania and Alumnia Membranes. Journal of Membrane Science. 378 (1–2): 61–72.

OthersBoon PI (2011). Study reveals threats to Victoria’s mangroves and coastal saltmarsh. Park Watch 247: 16–17.

Cary, J. & Pisarski, A. (2011). Social benchmarking as a basis for communication programs to improve river health. Communication & Science Journal, 2011 Jul 22.

Cary, J. & Pisarski, A. (2011). Social benchmarking to improve river ecosystems. Water Science & Technology 64 (5) 1144–1153.

*Cran, M. J. and Bigger, S. W. (2011). Studies on the properties and usage of biodegradable packaging materials. Zhongguo Yinshua Yu Baozhuang Yanjiu 3: 1–11.

N. Datta, and H.C. Deeth (2011) Heat Treatment of Milk: Non-thermal Technologies: High Pressure Processing In Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences (Ed. P.F. Fox et al.), Vol. 2, pp 732–737, Academic Press, London

H.C. Deeth and N. Datta (2011) Heat Treatment of Milk: Heat treatment of milk: Ultra-high temperature treatment (UHT) Heating systems, In Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences (Ed. P.F. Fox et al.), Vol. 2, pp 699–707, Academic Press, London.

Stephen Gray, Is sustainability scalable? My point of view, AWA Water Journal, May 2011, pp 6-8

HERDC RECOGNISEDConference PapersAshbolt, S. C., Maheepala, S. and Perera, B.J. C. (2011); Towards a Framework for Optimal Operation of Water Grids. Proceedings of the 34th IAHR World Water Congress, 26 June –1 July 2011, Brisbane, Australia. Engineers Australia, pp1961–1968.

Das, S.K., Ng. A.W.M. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011); Assessment of Nutrient and Sediment Loads in the Yarra River Catchment. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

Gamage, N., Agrawal, R., Smakhtin, V., and Perera, B. J. C. (2011); An Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Streamflow Using Remote Sensing Data. Proceedings of the 34th IAHR World Water Congress, 26 June – 1 July 2011, Brisbane, Australia. Engineers Australia, pp 1371 - 1378.

Gamage, N., Smakhtin, V. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011); Estimation of Actual Evapotraspiration Using Remote Sensing Data. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

Godoy, W.R, Barton, A.F. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011); A Procedure for Formulation of Multi-Objective Optimisation Problems in Complex Water Resources Systems. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).


Inamdar, P.M., Cook, S., Sharma, A., Corby, N., O’Connor, J. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011), Development of a GIS Based Screening Tool for Evaluating Stormwater Harvesting Sites in Urban Areas. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

Juwana, I., Muttil, N. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011), West Java Water Sustainability Index – A Case Study on Citarum Catchment. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12-16 December 2011 (CD).

Marleni, N., Gray, S., Sharma, A., Burn, S. and Muttil, N. (2011). The Impact of Residential Source Management Practices (SMPs) on Sewer Pipe: A Review. Proceedings of the 34th IAHR World Water Congress, 26 June – 1 July 2011, Brisbane, Australia. Engineers Australia, pp 2679 - 2686. ISBN 978-0-85825-868-6.

Marleni, N., Gray, S., Sharma, A., Burn, S. and Muttil, N. (2011). Scenario analysis of source management practices: Impact on sewerage networks. In Chan, Marinova and Anderssen (Eds.), MODSIM2011, 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, 12–16 December 2011, pp. 3882-3888. ISBN: 978-0-9872143-1-7. (also on CD)

Molavi, S., Muttil. N and Tran, H.D. (2011), Urban Flood Modelling and Climate Change: A Melbourne Area Case Study. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12-16 December 2011 (CD).

Muttil, N., Shanmugasundram, S. and Perera, B.J.C. Statistical Analysis to detect Changes in Rainfall Patterns Over the Yarra River Catchment, Australia, Proceedings of the International Statistics Conference 2011: Statistical Concepts and Methods for the Modern World, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 28-30 December 2011, pp 111–121.

Perera, B.J.C., Sachindra, D.A., Godoy, W., Barton, A.F. and Huang, F. (2011), Multi-Objective Planning and Operation of Water Supply Systems Subject to Climate Change. Proceedings of World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology2011, Issue 60, Phuket, Thailand, 21-23 December 2011, pp. 571–580.

Sachindra, D.A., Huang, F., Barton, A.F. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011), Statistical Downscaling of General Circulation Model Outputs to Catchment Streamflows. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

Nor Lila Shuib, Kanagaratnam Baskaran, Shobha Muthukumaran and Warren Davies (2011), Effluent Quality Performance of Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands using Natural Zeolite, ICESE 2011, Bali Island, Indonesia, pp 19-23, April 1–3, 2011

Sivapragasam, C., Arun, V.M. and Muttil, N. (2011). Re-design of Rain Gauge Network Using Genetic Programming based Ordinary Kriging. Proceedings of the 34th IAHR World Water Congress, Brisbane, Australia. Engineers Australia, 26 June – 1 July 2011, pp 428–433.

Sivapragasam, C, Muttil. N. and Arun, V.M. (2011), Long Term Flow Forecasting for Water Resources Planning in a River Basin. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

Tran, H. D., Muttil, N. and Perera, B.J.C. (2011), Investigation of Artificial Neural Network Models for Streamflow Forecasting. Proceedings of MODSIM2011 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Perth, Australia, 12–16 December 2011 (CD).

OthersCran, M. J., & Bigger, S. W. (2011). Studies on the properties and usage of biodegradable packaging materials. Proceedings of China Academic Conference on Green Printing and Packaging Materials. Harbin, China. August 20–21.

Dow, N., Gray, S., Li, J-D, Ostarcevic, E., Barron, R., Liubinas, A., Atherton, P., Halliwell, D., and Duke, M. Membrane distillation of industrial wastewater, AWA Ozwater 11, Adelaide, 2011, 9–11 May, paper 218

Guangyan Huang, Yanchun Zhang, Jing He and Zhiming Ding, Efficiently Retrieving Longest Common Route Patterns of Moving Objects By Summarizing Turning Regions, The 15th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, June, 2011.

Kuorwel, K.K., M.J. Cran, K. Sonneveld, J. Miltz, and S.W. Bigger. Antimicrobial Activity of Natural Agents Against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proceedings of the 25th IAPRI Symposium on Packaging. 2011. Berlin, Germany.

Kuorwel, K.K., M.J. Cran, K. Sonneveld, J. Miltz, and S.W. Bigger. Migration of Carvacrol from Starch-Based Film into Food Simulant. Proceedings of the 12th Government Food Analysts Conference. 2011. Brisbane, Australia.


Darli Theint Myat, Stephen Gray, John Orbell, Max Mergen, Oliver Zhao, Alginate fouling in dead end membrane filtration – Effect of pH, AWA Membranes and Desalination Specialty IV Conference, Surfers Paradise, Australia, February 9–11, 2011, paper 27

Pisarski, A. & Cary, J. (2011). Sustaining and Improving the Social Condition of River Ecosystems. Academy of Management 71st Annual Meeting, San Antonio, USA, 12-16 August.

Reeve, D., Agana, B.A. and Orbell, J.D., 2011, Process Water Optimization, Recovery and Re-use in the Manufacturing Industry, 10th Asia Pacific Round Table for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 9-11 November.

Peter Sanciolo, Eddy Ostarcevic, Paul Atherton, Greg Leslie, Tony Fane, Yoram Cohen, Marrack Payne, Stephen Gray, Effect of reverse osmosis concentrate composition on effectiveness of seeded precipitation removal of scale precursor ions to enhance water recovery. AWA Membranes and Desalination Specialty IV Conference, Surfers Paradise, Australia, February 9-11, 2011

Peter Sanciolo, Eddy Ostarcevic, Paul Atherton, Greg Leslie, Tony Fane, Yoram Cohen, Marrack Payne, Stephen Gray, Pilot plant removal of scale precursor ions to enhance RO water recovery, IDA World Congress, Perth, Western Australia, September, 4-9, 2011, Ref: IDAWC/PER11-252

Santosh R. Pandey, V. Jegatheesan, K. Baskaran, Shobha Muthukumaran (2011), Ranking of Pre-treatment Technologies for Reverse Osmosis for Water Recovery, 8th IWA International Symposium on Waste Management Problems in Agro-Industries, 22–24 June, 2011, Turkey, pp 463-470.

Shuib, N., Muthukumaran, S, Jegatheesan, V. and Baskaran, K. (2011), Evaluating the Performance of Three Different Media in a Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland, 8th IWA International Symposium on Waste Management Problems in Agro-Industries, 22–24 June, 2011, Turkey, pp 345–352

Zhu, B., Zou, L., Lin, Y.S., Hill, A., Wang, H., Huang, Y., and Duke, M, The Influence of Seawater Ions on the Structural Features of MFI, FAU and LTA Zeolites, 2010 International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN2010),. 22–26 Feb. 2010, p162–165, IEEXplore, DOI: 10.1109/ICONN.2010.6045228

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONSAgana, B., Orbell, J. D. & Reeve, D. 2011. Laboratory scale evaluation of ultrafiltration membranes for distributed wastewater treatment at an Australian car manufacturer’s production site. Membranes and Desalination Specialty Conference IV, Australian Water Association, February 9-11, 2011, Gold Coast, Queensland

Boon PI (2011). Coastal vegetation: critical and ignored, loved and hated. Biodiversity across the borders – vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems. University of Ballarat, 9 June 2011, Melbourne

Boon PI (2011). Victorian saltmarshes and mangroves: typology, inventory, threats, and losses since European colonization. Oral presentation at the Annual conference of the Australian Marine Sciences Association., 4–7 July, Fremantle

Boon PI (2011). Coastal and marine interface – critical habitats. Oral presentation at Saltwater Wedge: a marine and coastal interactive forum. Gippsland Coastal Board., 19–20 July 2011, Paynesville

John Cary, Riparian landholders and the land-water interface: A model of knowledge and behaviour related to waterway health, Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference 2011, 29 August to 3 September, London, UK

Marlene Cran (2011). Cleaning guidelines for desalination membranes. NCED Australia Biofouling Workshop, 23-24 June 2011, Sydney

Mikel Duke (2011). Adsorption, structural changes and membrane performance of ZIF-8 and SAPO materials in the presence of seawater ions, ICOM 2011, 23-29 July 2011, Amsterdam

Angela Hausmann MD in the Dairy Industry: Membrane Performance and Process Integration (co-authored by Mikel Duke, Peter Sanciolo and Todor Vasiljevic). Stephen Gray, Modelling compressible MD membranes (co-authored by Jun-de Li and Jianhua Zhang). International Workshop on Membrane Distillation and Related Technologies, 9–12 Oct 2011, Ravello, Italy

Syed Hussainy, Production and sustainable utilisation of biofuel from human and animal wastes to substitute fossil fuel, BITs Annual World Congress of Bioenergy conference, 25–28 April 2011, Dalian, China


Dr Nicholas Milne, Reduction of silica for enhanced groundwater recovery at the 1st International Conference on Desalination and Environment: A Water Conference, 29 Oct-1 November, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

John Orbell and Bernard Agana (PhD student) Ceramic electro-ultrafiltration of post-electrodeposition paint rinse wastewater, 6th IWA Specialist Conference on Membrane Technology for Water & Wastewater Treatment, 4–7 October, 2011, Aachen, Germany

Reeve, D., Agana, B.A. and Orbell, J.D., 2011, Process Water Optimization, Recovery and Re-use in the Manufacturing Industry, 10th Asia Pacific Round Table for Sustainable Consumption and Production, 9–11 November, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Matthew B. Stewart, Darli Myat, Stephen R. Gray and John D. Orbell, The Fouling of Hydrophobic Membranes by Hydrophilic Alginates: A Molecular Dynamics Study, BioPhysChem 2011 Conference, 2–7 December 2011, Wollongong

Venables A, Dickson M & Boon PI (2011), Wetland classification and validation: is there a better way? Oral presentation at ‘Biodiversity across the borders – vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems’. University of Ballarat, 9 June 2011, Melbourne

Bo Zhu, Development of multifunctional titania membranes for water treatment at VU’s Annual Spring Research Symposium, 23 November 2011, Melbourne

CONFERENCE POSTERSAgana, B. A., Orbell, J. D. & Reeve, D. 2011. Ceramic electro-ultrafiltration of post-electrodeposition paint rinse wastewater. 6th IWA Specialist Conference on Membrane Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment, Aachen, Germany. IWA, October 4-7, 2011

Yaoxin Hu MFI-type zeolite functional liquid phase sensor coated on the optical fiber end-face 3rd Asia Pacific Optical Sensors Conference (APOS 2012), 31 January–3 February 2012, Sydney, Australia

Chi Yan Lai, Stephen Gray, Mikel Duke, Andrew Groth, Preparation and characterisation of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/nanoclay composite membranes, AWA Membranes and Desalination Specialty IV Conference, 9–11 February 2011, paper P01, Surfers Paradise, Goldcoast

Jianhua Zhang, Jun-de Li, Stephen Gray, The performance of stretch-formed polytetrafluoroethylene membrane in direct contact membrane distillation, AWA Membranes and Desalination Specialty IV Conference, 9–11 February 2011, paper P02, Surfers Paradise , Goldcoast

Dr Bo Zhu Preparation and application of MFI zeolite membranes for desalination of mine wastewater, ICOM 2011, 24–29 July 2011, Amsterdam.


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