UNIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT
University of Adelaide Source: Sally Wood
The University of Adelaide stands tall as one of the world’s leading organisations for education and innovation. Founded in 1874, the University became the first in Australia to grant science degrees. In addition, it offered degrees in arts, law, medicine and music before the 1900s. Today, it is a member of The Group of Eight, which includes Australia’s top research-intensive universities. It consistently features as a high ranking institution, with many international bodies placing the University in the top one per cent worldwide. Over 100 countries are represented in the student population. The total number of students is 21,142, of which 7,868 are from overseas. The University also has an impressive list of alumni, including five Nobel Laureates; Australia’s first Indigenous Rhodes Scholar recipient; and Australia’s first female Prime Minister – Julia Gillard.
The University of Adelaide’s Contribution to Materials Science and the Centre for Energy Technology The University of Adelaide has generated $181.6 million in total research income, with a strong emphasis on research utilisation. The University’s Centre for Energy Technology (CET) links research teams with end-users in their respective industries. These partnerships work together to develop innovative methods for fuel sustainability, minerals processing and other power needs.
The key intention of the Centre is to fast-track Australia’s transition to a carbon neutral economy and environment. It is underpinned by four key research challenges, including: • Sustainable secure power • Sustainable fuels • Sustainable minerals • Sustainable networks and grids. Over 115 researchers and students operate across CET’s 20 projects, which span across unique challenges and scales. Together, the team publishes 170 papers per annum, in leading academic journals, and registers an average of two patents per annum. Professor Gus Nathan leads the team of researchers, whose expertise is focused on energy engineering; particularly in systems relevant to geothermal, solar, and the combustion of fossil and bio-fuels. Professor Nathan was responsible for leading a team which designed the fuel and combustion technique for the relay torch during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In addition, he co-invented the patented combustor used in the stadium flame and torch for the 2004 Athens, and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. CET’s research is divided into nine themes: • Solar thermal • Energy materials • Wind, wave and tidal power • Low carbon materials • Biomass to energy • Two phase flow • Sooting flames
• Chemical looping • Laser diagnostics. Over $12 million worth of infrastructure is housed at CET’s facilities, where international researchers gather to seek solutions to the challenges of the modern world. The nine research themes at CET are supported by state-of-the-art facilities, including: • Energy storage testing facility • Solar simulation facilities • Biomass and coal research laboratory • Photocatalysis laboratory • Wind tunnel • Laser diagnostic systems and research laboratories • Micro-algae cultivation and processing facilities.
ARENA Solar Thermal in the Bayer Alumina Process Project Researchers that are part CET’s solar thermal research theme, are seeking to achieve 50 per cent concentration of solar thermal (CST) into the commercial Bayer alumina process. The Bayer alumina process involves the heating of bauxite ore, along with a sodium hydroxide solution. This forces the aluminium to dissolve, as a sodium aluminate, as part of an extraction process. The production of calcined alumina in Australia generates over $5 billion each year, and accounts for around 27 per cent of Australia’s industrial carbon emissions. This University of Adelaide’s project intends to establish a path to progressively integrate three CST energy technologies into the Bayer alumina process. The project team has found that the introduction of concentrated solar thermal technologies to the Bayer alumina process, could currently lead to a 29-45 per cent solar share. CET research, as part of this body of work, is separated into three programs: • Low temperature process heat: which seeks to understand the conditions that CST can be integrated into low temperature process heat for increased evaporation, digestion, and pre-heating.
44 | SEPTEMBER 2020
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