The latest round of the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects (ARC LP) have been announced and researchers at The University of Queensland’s Advanced Water Management Centre have once again been successful.
AWMC’s Professor Zhiguo Yuan AM, Dr Gilda Carvalho, and Dr Keshab Sharma as well as AWMC alumni Dr Philip Bond, Dr Tingting Zhang, Dr Adrian Oehmen, Associate Professor Liu Ye and Dr Romain Lemaire have been successful in this latest round.
Professor Yuan and Dr Sharma are leading the project “Sewer corrosion reduction through model-supported ventilation control” in collaboration with District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, Melbourne Water Corporation, Urban Utilities, Water Corporation and Tianjin University (China).
“Sewer networks are a critical part of our urban infrastructure,” Professor Yuan said.
“However, concrete sewers are prone to sulfide-induced corrosion, costing Australian water utilities hundreds of millions of dollars each year for repair and maintenance.”
This multi-disciplinary project, granted over $800,000, will be aiming to generate critical knowledge and predictive models for optimal design and operation of sewer ventilation sys-tems, and to develop and demonstrate novel dynamic ventilation strategies to reduce sewer corrosion.
“Ventilation is one of the key technologies for sewer corrosion control, however its design and operation are currently based on experience and empirical equations, often leading to unsatisfactory results” said Professor Yuan.
“The project aims to deliver novel, field-demonstrated ventilation strategies to be incorporated in the Australian ventilation design and operation guidelines.”
AWMC’s Dr Gilda Carvalho is part of two different groups with success for two projects.
One project is looking to utilise the Australian Census 2021 to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis.
The second project will investigate a more sustainable and cost-effective nitrogen and phosphorus removal process from wastewater, benefitting the environment and improving the viability of wastewater recycling.
The ARC Linkage Projects are designed to support the development of long-term collaboration between higher education and industry partners.
Congratulations to all for this continued success, especially in these challenging times.
