Aus$ 3.8 million announced for new Australian desalination research

The new Aus $3.8 million (US$ 4.03 million) federal funding for research announced at the opening of the new research centre by the Australian National Centre of Excellence includes eleven new projects involving eight Australian universities, plus other universities, companies and organisations across the world.

The newly funded projects, with principal investigator and research participants, are:

Brine Management Guidelines
Dr Peter Sanciolo, Victoria University
Smart Water Fund, Goulburn-Murray Water and Elements

Assisted Forward Osmosis as a Novel Concept for Energy Savings in Reverse Osmosis Desalination
Dr Pierre Le-Clech, University of New South Wales (UNSW)
University of Nevada and Nanyang Technological University

Assessing the Biofouling Role of Microbes in the Desalination System; from the Intake Pipe to the Reverse Osmosis Membranes
Dr Sophie Leterme, Flinders University
South Australia (SA) Water and Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC)

Smart Materials for Corrosion Management
Professor Maria Forsyth, Deakin University
Monash University, Ohio State University, AECOM, ASIS Scientific Pty Ltd and AusComposites

Evaluation of Non-Chemical Pulsed-Power Technology as an Antifoulding Pre-Treatment for Reverse Osmosis Desalination Membranes
Professor Stephen Gray, Victoria University
AquaMem and SA Water

Membrane Adsorption Bioreactor Hybrid System as a Pre-Treatment to Reverse Osmosis Desalination
Professor Saravanamuth Vigneswaran, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC) and UNSW

Continuous Silica Removal during Desalination for Increased Water Recovery
Dr Nicholas Milne, Dr Peter Sanciolo and Professor Stephen Gray, Victoria University
Origin Energy

Fibre-Optic Sensor for Water Quality Monitoring
Professor Kamal Alameh, Edith Cowan University

The Optimisation and Improvement of Direct Filtration Pre-Treatment to Reduce both Organic and Bio-Fouling of Reverse Osmosis Membranes
Professor Saravanamuth Vigneswaran, UTS
ProAlliance, GIST, KAUST, SMTC, Curtin University and UNSW

Transverse Vibrational Motion Enchanced Submerged Hollow Fibre Membrane Crystallizer
Professor Vicky Chen, UNSW
SMTC

Modelling, Monitoring and Control of Reverse Osmosis Biofouling
Dr Ralf Cord-Ruwisch, Murdoch University
Nanyang Technological University, AquaMem, Valoriza and University of Alicante.