Four projects from The University of Western Australia focused on sustainable fuel and digital agriculture have been awarded Federal Government grants totalling more than $1.5 million.
The projects, which must demonstrate a level of industry engagement and a pathway to commercialisation, received Ignite grants from Australia’s Economic Accelerator fund.
Professor Eric May, CEO of the Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre and Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering at UWA, received funds for a sustainable fuel project.
Professor May will lead a team to develop low-cost separation technology optimised for natural hydrogen and helium recovery.
“Hydrogen and helium are both critical to advanced economies, and they are often present in naturally occurring gas reserves,” Professor May said.
“However, the cost of recovering them with conventional techniques is prohibitive for small, stranded fields of which there are many in Australia.
“We will be demonstrating a patented gas separation technology able to recover very low concentrations of helium and hydrogen without using expensive cryogenic processes."
Professor Dilusha Silva and Professor Michael Johns, from UWA’s School of Engineering, and Dr Andrew Sunderland, from UWA’s School of Physics, Mathematics and Computing, will lead three separate digital agriculture projects.
Professor Silva and UWA’s Microelectronics Research Group will drive the development of a low-cost spectroscopic sensing instrument for autonomous farm management.
The instrument will be developed with Magic Wavelength, which recently entered into a licensing agreement with UWA for commercial development of the MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) spectroscopic sensor technology.
“UWA has the ideal environment for this type of ag-tech development because of the Microelectronics Research Group’s semiconductor expertise and our close connection with UWA Institute of Agriculture,” Professor Silva said.
“Near-infrared spectroscopy is already a proven analytical technology in agriculture, but the cost and fragility of spectrometer instruments has hindered application.
“This technology will enable lightweight and robust spectroscopic instruments, suited for on-farm use, at a low cost-point.”
Professor Johns will develop low-cost mobile magnetic resonance sensing for liquid food supply chain authentication.
“We aim to provide farming communities, food producers and suppliers with a means to fingerprint liquid food products at the source using a low-cost handheld magnetic resonance spectrometer,” Professor Johns said.
“A unique digital signature provided by the magnetic resonance signal relaxation characteristics can be used to trace products throughout the entire supply chain as a proof of origin and authenticity.”
Dr Sunderland will improve airborne electromagnetic surveying for groundwater and conductive minerals.
“This project aims to develop an innovative new concept in airborne electromagnetic transmitter-receiver systems for better vertical resolution of the subsurface,” Dr Sunderland said.
“This could enable farmers to make appropriate sub-division and fence-line changes and potentially lead to the discovery of new water and mineral resources.”
Ignite grants support early-stage research commercialisation through competitive grants of up to $500,000 for a maximum period of 12 months.
The grants are available for researchers at Australian universities to complete basic research, laboratory testing and establish proof-of-concept in an industry-relevant environment.