Research themes
Wastewater Treatment and Re-use Technologies
Our team is focused on low carbon wastewater treatment technologies. We use the latest progress in biotechnology, bioengineering, and material sciences to improve current systems and develop new treatment technologies that can efficiently purify water for safe environmental discharge and water reuse. Our research provides the wastewater servicing sector with modelling tools to monitor the emission of greenhouse gases such as CH4 and NOx from wastewater treatment. Our work has also introduce with new technologies to wastewater treatment, making it more energy efficient and enabling energy and resource recovery from organic waste and wastewater. We pioneer the detection and monitoring of significant and emerging water-borne and water relevant contaminants, such as pharmaceutically active compounds, halogenated hydrocarbons such as PFAS, wastewater based epidemiology, and anti-microbial resistance.
Water Supply and Alternative Water Sources
CTWW is a world leader in desalination and water reuse research. Our work has and will contribute to the development of innovative water systems to ensure reliable water supply to households and the industry both in quality and quantity. We work with the water sector in Australia and overseas to implement Industry 4.0 to the management of water resources, water purification, and quality/quantity monitoring
Water Resource Management and Catchment Modelling
Our research in this theme is essential for businesses, households, and the authority to efficiently utilise water resources and to manage floods and droughts which are parts of the Australian landscape. We develop new technologies that can be integrated into the Water Sensitive Urban Design philosophy to prevent localised flooding and improve storm water quality for reuse and environmental flow. We also improve and develop computer software packages to quantify and model water flow at catchment wide scale. CTWW regularly provides short courses to local councils and water officers from South East Asia on flood estimation, catchment modelling, and flood mitigation.
New Materials and Membrane Processes
We develop new separation technologies for purifying alternative water resources such as wastewater and seawater and to extract critical minerals such as lithium and rare earth elements from brine and low grade ores. We are experts in the development of new membrane materials including mixed matrix membranes, biomimetic membranes, and new membrane systems for carbon capture, phosphorus recovery, and mineral processing. Our team also produces innovative pre-treatment techniques to control membrane fouling.
