Left: Prof. Sahajwalla with material derived from waste glass. Right: furniture in Mirvac display apartments made form the material.
Depending on our microscopy to help her and her team understand the processes they develop, Prof. Veena Sahajwalla, from UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology, sees waste as an opportunity with huge potential.
She has harnessed that potential to develop a wide range of manufacturing processes that add value to waste and minimise pollution: green steel that uses waste tyres and plastic in place of coking coal; toughened steel from scrapped cars; purified aluminium from used coffee pods; textile-reinforced ceramics from waste glass and clothing for use in building interiors; local micro-factories for e-waste and more. She is truly an Australian recycling hero!
A/Prof. Justin Chalker checks water samples
A/Prof. Justin Chalker from Flinders University also depends on our microscopy as his team creates versatile polymers from waste cooking oil and sulfur, a by-product from petroleum processing. He chemically combines these resources to make a spongy material that absorbs environmental contaminants such as mercury from artisanal gold mining, other heavy metals, spilled oil and toxic chemicals (like PFAS).
He is now combining his polymers with raw wool to make sustainable, fire-resistant insulation. The patents for these polymers have been sold to Clean Earth Technologies, who continue to partner with A/Prof. Chalker’s team. They are bringing the polymers to commercial production to help clean up the planet. Another Australian recycling hero!
December 4, 2021
