Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 3 – Wednesday 7 September

The final day of the symposium was an Industry Partners and Training Centre-only day with a few workshops and discussions. There was a great turn-out with 63 people attending in person and 54 people online.

Our Theme 3 researchers ran the initial workshop “From acceptance to engagement: new challenges for biosolids management” and were very pleased with the engagement and feedback they received.

Centre discussions were then chaired by Prof Damien Batstone, covering publications, placements, and training opportunities. We also heard from Emily Chang from Cruxes Innovation on their Base program for early career researchers.

A Training Forum for the Post Docs, PhDs and Industry partners was facilitated by Dr David Bergmann from South East Water, Prof Anas Ghadouani (UWA), Prof Lauren Rickards (RMIT), and Carolyn Bellamy, Water RA.

The final session of the symposium was an online Training Lunch on Developing Impact Pathways run by Dr David Downes from RMIT University.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful symposium for all the hard work done by the organising committee.

To read more about the symposium check out the article written by UNSW researchers about the symposium – Link.

Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 2 – Tuesday 6 September

Second day of the Second Annual Symposium was just as outstanding as the first day with another great turnout. There were around 94 in-person attendees and 93 online attendees from across industry and research.

The program included a keynote speech from Prof Glen Daigger, from University of Michigan on the Global perspectives on Thermal Technologies. Glen also provided us with an insightful overview and critique at the end of the day.

The final researcher presentations came from those working on Theme 3: Ensuring Biosolids Sustainability. They did a fantastic job highlighting all the researcher’s work and did some great presentations.

People’s choice topic presentations on the State of Play on Biosolids Management were provided by Richard Lancaster, Technical Director Biosolids, Atkins Global on UK and Europe, and Prof Ian Pepper, University of Arizona on North America and Canada.  Closer to home, representatives from Australian councils and water utilities provided an overview on their management of biosolids across Australian states.

ANZBP ran a 2-hour session for us  in the afternoon, introducing who ANZBP are and then providing insights from some of the research that they have done in conjunction with Industry Partners.

To end the Formal Symposium sessions, we had a wonderful Wrap-up, Critique and Feedback session which showed some of the take-aways of the symposium and provided ideas for the 2023 symposium program and approach.

Many thanks to all our presenters who made the first 2 days such a success. We would also like to thank our session Chairs and the researchers who assisted them by Co-chairing the sessions and helping behind the scenes during the symposium, which ensured the smooth running of the program.

Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 1 – Monday 5 September

First day of the Second Annual Symposium, an outstanding first day. Great turnout with around 104 in-person attendees and 151 online attendees.

The program included a keynote speech from Paul Higham, Head of Strategic and Enterprise Planning, from Sydney Water about The Changing Market for Biosolids.

Our Centre researchers working on Theme 1: Improving Biosolids Technologies did an outstanding job, great presentations, and insightful research.

People’s choice topic presentations by Dr Jen Martin from Arcadis Australia Pacific on PFAS and Biosolids and by Craig Bagnall, SEATA Group on Biosolids Biochar Markets provided a great overview of current issues facing the industry.

The program on Day 1 also included some outstanding Forums in the afternoon – we heard views from a wide range of Producers and End-Users of biosolids in NSW, as well as paying a tribute to our Biosolids Industry Legends.

We also had another round of our Centre researchers working on Theme 2: Enhancing Biosolids Product Applications. Again, they did an outstanding job of presenting their research at the symposium.

It was also fantastic to see the conversations that the researchers were having with the Industry Partners that attended. This continued into the evening with a successful conference dinner exchange, where we heard from guest speaker, Dr Michael Crawford, CEO of the Soil CRC.

 

Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

UPDATE – THIS POSITION HAS NOW BEEN FILLED. Ed.

 

Research Associate in Sustainability Assessment

The Opportunity

This role is based within the UNSW Water Research Centre. As a Research Associate you will conduct research and might have the opportunity teach in the field of sustainability research and assessment. You will manage and work on projects and courses related to sustainability assessment applied to areas such as wastewater/biosolids treatment and other processes related to environmental engineering. If required, the teaching part of this role will include managing and delivering courses related to sustainability assessment and sustainable infrastructure.

This position will give you the opportunity to develop your research skills and output through contributing to the writing of scientific papers and reports for international journals, participating in conferences and workshops and actively engaging with industry partners.

This role reports to the leader of the Sustainability Assessment Program at the UNSW Water Research Centre, Prof. Tommy Wiedmann, and has nil direct reports.

• Full time
• Fixed-term contract – 2 years
• Location: Kensington – Sydney, Australia

Skills & Experience

• PhD (or soon to be awarded) in environmental engineering or environmental sciences with a focus on sustainability.
• Knowledge and experience developing and applying Life Cycle Assessment and/or carbon/environmental footprinting in the area of water engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research with limited supervision.
• Demonstrated track record of publications and conference presentations relative to opportunity.
• Demonstrated ability to teach university courses related to sustainability/environmental engineering/sciences.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, collaborate across disciplines and build effective relationships.
• Strong interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to communicate and interact with a diverse range of stakeholders and students.
• An understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines.
• Ability and capacity to implement required UNSW health and safety policies and procedures.

Additional details about the specific responsibilities for this position can be found HERE.

See also details on our Training page HERE.

See our website for more information on Project 3B, HERE.

Author Editor
Date 30 May, 2022

As part of the IWN webinar series, on Thursday 19 May 2022 the ARC Biosolids Training Centre Post Docs and PhD candidates at RMIT University were able to take webinar viewers into RMIT’s laboratories.

Researchers presented a brief overview of their research projects including new technology, applications and social research. This provided a unique opportunity for industry to hear how the next generation of practitioners are shaping the future of the biosolids industry.

This was viewed by 90 people on the day. The program included the following presenters and topics:

Chris Krohn, Jake Elliott, Tim Micallef (Anaerobic Digestion)
Kamrun Nahar, Mojtaba Hedayati Marzbali (Hydrothermal)
Savan Patel, Shivani Agnihotri, Nimesha Rathnayake (Pyrolysis)
Charles Dike, Tien Ngo (Biochar application)
Ibrahim Hakeem, Kraiwut Jansriphibul (Heavy metals and pathogens)
Leadin Khudur (Ecotoxicity)
Patrick Bonney (Social research)

Please follow the link to access the YouTube recording HERE.

Author Editor
Date 22 July, 2022 – Updated 3 September 2022

Registrations have now closed for this event that commences on Monday 5 September 2022.

The 2nd Annual Symposium for the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource  starts this Monday 5 September 2022. This year we are partnering with ANZBP and aim to bring you an interesting and varied program.

Program: 

• The Symposium Program can be viewed HERE.

For all those registrants wishing to join online, the Teams link to the Symposium can be found here:

TEAMS link

Sponsorship:

• Please see HERE for opportunities to support our event.

Program format: Hybrid

• The MS Teams link has been provided to Registrants who cannot attend in person.
• In line with University policies, all attendees in person must be fully vaccinated to attend on-campus events. We strongly advise all attendees to take a rapid COVID test before attending, and join online if necessary.

DIRECTIONS

Symposium Location:

• Ainsworth Building J17 – Ground level G03, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Sydney campus, Kensington SYDNEY
• Conference dinner location – Scientia Building H19
• Car Parking – Barker Street Car Park

– see Campus Map

• Public transport map

Directions to UNSW:

• Taxis from the Airport – Direct them to go to Gate 14, Barker Street, Kensington via Gardener Road
• Driving to UNSW – enter Gate 14, Parking in the Barker Street Car Park

Dates:

• 5th and 6th September – a varied program of national and international speakers, and updates on the Centre’s research program
• 7 September – a half day of operational activities reserved for industry partners and Centre researchers on research and training outcomes.

Registration is required to attend this event.

Registrants – you can CLICK HERE to access Eventbrite for information on how to get to the venue

• The deadline for all registrations was 31 August 2022 (in person) and 2 September 2022 (Online).

Many thanks to our Sponsors!

We are also looking forward to the opportunity to continue discussions with our industry partners attending this event. Thank you for your help and support.

Author Editor
Date March 29, 2022

The Australian Water Authority (AWA)  celebrated the winners of the VIC Water Awards at their Gala night on 28 March 2022. The annual VIC Water Awards recognise contributions to industry leadership, innovative research, programs and infrastructure projects.

Congratulations to members of our Centre at RMIT and our industry partners for winning the Research and Development Excellence Award this year. The citation by the AWA notes the following:-

“The R&D Excellence award recognised that the new pilot scale biosolids pyrolysis technology, developed by RMIT University in collaboration with South East Water, Intelligent Water Network and Greater Western Water, is the first of its kind in Australia. The technology removes pathogens and emerging contaminants from biosolids creating biochar, a product which is safer to use.”

[Photo and citation courtesy of AWA]

Author Editor
Date January 20, 2022

RMIT University is advertising a PhD role for a researcher to join the team working on Project 1C.

(See details on Project 1C , go to our website page HERE.)

Based at the Bundoora West campus, the role will investigate the following project topic:

“Exploiting microbial ecology of municipal anaerobic digesters to improve operational efficiency”.

Interested students need to be successful in securing their own primary scholarship via a Research Training Program (RTP) –  domestic or international post graduate award, or equivalent. Alternatively, a full scholarship may be available for outstanding domestic candidates.

Applications close on 31 March 2022.

Project Details are available HERE.

See our Training Page and scroll down to the OPPORTUNITIES section for additional information and links on this and other PhD opportunities available at our partner universities.

For information on this position, contact Dist. Professor Andy Ball by email –  andy.ball@rmit.edu.au

Author Dr Ruth Fisher
Date December 17, 2021

Codigestion of food waste is emerging as an increasingly popular method to recover additional energy while using existing wastewater treatment infrastructure.  However, the addition of substrates will also influence the quality of downstream biosolids, potentially affecting re-use opportunities.

In a new paper published in Science of the Total Environment, the impact of codigestion on downstream biosolids quality was investigated by measuring the concentrations of trace organic compounds and metals in the digested sludge following codigestion.  Article link – see HERE

The paper showed concentrations were dependent on the type of food waste added, with significant differences in concentrations compared to the control for compounds such as caffeine and Bisphenol A which were found in high levels from beverage wastes.  Caffeine, diuron, triclosan and triclocarban were found to present a potential high risk of impacts on the soil ecosystems as judged with environmental risk assessment.

Currently much of Australia’s biosolids are applied to agricultural land providing nutrients as well as improvements in water retention.  This paper support that care should be taken to protect biosolids quality, through careful monitoring and source control to ensure that biosolids land application provides benefits without potential impacts due to contamination.

See article for Diagram.

If you are interested in helping map how codigestion can be integrated sustainably and more widely in biosolids management in Australia – we are currently advertising for a PhD student in this area.  See HERE.

Author Editor
Date September 28, 2021

Today the Royal Society of Victoria has recognised the outstanding work of Centre Director, Distinguished Professor Andy Ball as the recipient of the RSV’s prestigious 2021 Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research.

The medal recognises Andy’s work in ‘Restoring ecosystems and recovering resources‘, citing his extensive research expertise in environmental microbiology and biotechnology, and his focus on

“developing clean, sustainable technologies to remediate environmental contamination, looking for ways of removing contaminants – particularly petroleum hydro-carbons (oil), but also other organic pollutants – from soils, groundwater and water bodies.”

To see the RSV’s full article, refer HERE

Andy will be presenting his work to the Society at a public lecture on 9 December 2021, where he will be presented with the 2021 Medal by the Governor of Victoria.

Congratulations Andy!