HPA processing, ‘4D digital twins’ and breakthrough hydrogen storage among newly-funded CRC-P projects

Round 16 Cooperative Research Centres Project (CRC-P) grants totalling approximately $55 million have been awarded to 23 projects, involving companies including junior mining explorer Impact Minerals, medical test maker ZiP Diagnostics, drone mapping specialist Emesent, and hydrogen storage company Rux Energy.

In a statement on Tuesday, industry minister Ed Husic said one grant for almost $3 million went to a project involving CPC Engineering, supporting development of a new membrane technology for metals separation that could “transform Australia’s processing of critical minerals”.

“CPC Engineering’s pioneering work filtering critical minerals has the potential to cut costs for business and also significantly reduce environmental waste,” said Husic.

According to its description, the project will see CPC design and construct a pilot plant “integrat[ing] Membrane Selective Technologies [MSTs] to the process to increase the purity of HPA to <50ppm contaminants and recycle wastewater and acid by removing impurities, enabling a ‘Zero Liquid Discharge’ closed loop process.” 

An article sponsored by project participant Impact Minerals says that the consortium (also including the Mineral Recovery Research Centre at Edith Cowan University) will use MSTs – “well-established in water treatment” – to produce high purity alumina and fertiliser by-products from salts in Impact’s Lake Hope, WA deposit.

A project for development of a “rapid, low-cost test to diagnose scabies and associated bacterial co-infections” led by ZiP was awarded $1,842,931. It features Axxin and the Menzies School of Health Research as project collaborators.

CSIRO spinout Emesent leads a project awarded $2,415,000, linking it with Aeris Resources, BHP Group and CSIRO.

The drone business and teammates “will pioneer an innovative Mining Digitalisation and Automation platform”, according to the project description. The platform “collects and merges data from field robots and sensors, creating a live 4D digital twin”, resulting in improved safety and efficiency at mine sites.

Rux Energy leads a project granted $3,000,000 in support, and involving The University of Sydney, Vireo Energy, W T G, ANL Container Line, and South Australian Hydrogen Hubs.

The project is based on Rux’s metal organic framework materials, which can be used for hydrogen storage. It aims to “enable… storage at conditions specific to bulk static & export, not previously achieved, demonstrating breakthroughs in efficiency, safety and cost, using advanced green manufacturing syntheses, building on learnings and joint-Rux-USYD investments in research infrastructure.”

A full list of round 16 grant winners can be seen here.

CRC-P grants support short-term research collaborations, running up to three years, and providing up to $3 million in funding.   

Picture: credit Impact Minerals

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