Funding announced for innovation in climate change projects

The Victorian Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge has concluded, and several water utilities across Victoria have reaped the benefits, receiving funding for their projects.

Water Minister Harriet Shing announced funding for three projects, out of a prize pool of $255,000. The co-production of green hydrogen and oxidant from direct solar radiation from South East Water, in first place, received $113,000. Nanobubble Oxygenation from Gippsland Water received $50,000 as the first runner-up, and Nutrient Sponge Booms for Algae Control Using Biochar in Water Supply Systems from North East Water and Goulburn Murray Water was the second runner-up, receiving $60,000.

This funding represents continued excellence in innovation for the Victorian water industry. Of the seven finalists, the difference between the top and the bottom was half a point.

Intelligent Water Networks Program Director Jason Cotton and IWN Chair Jo Murdoch highlighted the continuing quality of these projects.

“The judges have noted that the submissions we received were exceptional, technologically advanced, and demonstrated strong collaborations across the sector and with private and research organisations,” said Murdoch. “Just thank you also to our judges. The fact the top seven scores were separated by less than half a point shows how difficult the decision was for the judges.”

The Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge is a collaboration between the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), the Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) and the Minister for Water to deliver Action 10.3 of Water for Victoria to promote innovation within the water sector. The Challenge is an annual competition for all Victorian water corporations and provides a structured way to drive innovation, adaptation and collaboration on key climate challenges facing the sector. The Challenge will incentivise individual water corporations to explore and invest in climate innovation while continuing to deliver essential water services to Victorians.

Green hydrogen from direct solar radiation

Li Gao, the Strategic Research Manager at South East Water, focused his project on how to get green hydrogen and oxidants from direct solar radiation. In conjunction with RMIT University, the project would seek to use non-potable water to generate green hydrogen. His method would use no electricity and be modular and floatable. It could also be scaled up and use recycled water to separate hydrogen and oxygen.

“The goal is to optimise the photocatalytic system to co-produce ozone and hydrogen peroxide,” Gao said. “These are far better for converting into oxygen and hydrogen. The next milestone is to develop dual-functional system testing by using recycled water. Once complete, we can launch a small-scale prototype trial in a wastewater lagoon.”

The potential is for thousands of connected panels to sit in wastewater reservoirs, generating hydrogen through the interaction of the wastewater with the sun.

Nutrient Sponge Booms for Algae Control Using Biochar in Water Supply Systems

Simon Robertson from North East Water gave this presentation about using biochar in waste supply systems. His solution’s priority use case comes from the impact of climate change, as blue-green algae problems continue to exist after high nutrient loads from extreme weather events.

“North East Water and Goulburn Murray Water are working together as we have similar challenges,” Robertson said. “If you look at traditional water booms, we’ve taken them and filled them with biochar. They can soak up the nutrients, which we can use on the land to improve the nutrient profile.”

Together, North East Water and Goulburn Murray Water have rolled this innovation out to five different water and wastewater treatment plants to assess the biochar before and after immersion in that water. The water will also be evaluated before and after the booms go in. This will give an idea of the potential for the project to be effectively rolled out across multiple sites.

Nanobubble Oxygenation from Gippsland Water

The idea of nanobubbles is not new, but their use to oxygenate wastewater could provide new opportunities. Adrian Harper from Gippsland Water presented this research proposal that would focus on making wastewater treatment more energy-efficient. At the moment, the aeration of wastewater as part of the treatment process can consume about 50 per cent of all the energy used to run a wastewater treatment plant.

“When we look at this from a statewide perspective, that’s about 250 gigawatt hours of energy at a cost of about $50 million,” Harper said. “Nanobubbles are non-buoyant, which means they remain in suspension within the water column for a longer period and naturally repel each other. That minimises the risk of them coalescing into larger bubbles.”

The goal was to work with an existing supplier of an oxygen generator to produce oxygen nanobubbles that would be injected into a recirculation stream. This has been proven to reduce energy use for aeration by 20 to 50 per cent, which could reduce energy spending across Victoria by between $5 and 12.5 million.

Want to know more? Subscribe to Inside Water for the full results in the January/February issue.