A new research centre bringing together international collaborators to find new, clean ways to develop green technologies for global decarbonisation has been officially opened in Australia.
Located at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation is backed by funding of AUS$35 million from the ARC. Bringing together researchers from seven Australian universities along with six industry and government organisations and researchers from the UK, US, Europe and Asia, the centre will focus on the development of metal-free carbon-based products to produce clean chemicals and renewable energy with zero emissions.
Three research programmes are currently under way at the centre. These cover advanced carbon catalysts, carbon catalysts for renewable energy, and carbon catalysts for green chemistry.
Scientia Professor Liming Dai from UNSW Engineering is the director of the new centre. “Our centre aims to develop advanced carbon science and technologies for global decarbonisation. As we all know, to reach net zero emissions we must replace the current fossil fuel-based energy with clean and renewable energy of zero emissions," he said, adding: “The impact of our centre research will not only help the environment, but will also enhance economic growth through a carbon circular economy, as the carbon catalysts can be developed from waste.”
As the centre was officially opened UNSW deputy vice-chancellor of research and enterprise, Professor Bronwyn Fox said: “This new centre aligns perfectly with UNSW’s strong commitment to collaboration across disciplines and institutions, working with industry to facilitate research and knowledge exchange, and addressing critical global challenges like the climate crisis.”
During the middle of November, the centre hosted its first International Conference on Carbon Science and Innovation in Sydney, Australia. Attended by some 240 delegates from 15 countries, discussions covered five key themes, these being: carbon materials, characterisation, and modelling; carbon for catalysis; carbon for energy; carbon for environment; and carbon for biomedicine.
Along with the AUS$35 million investment in ARC, the centre has received significant cash in and in-kind investments from industrial partners and partner universities in Australia and internationally.
The ARC added that by working with green chemical industry partners and using locally abundant sunlight, sea water and waste feedstocks, the centre would revolutionise how energy is generated and put Australia and the forefront of clean energy production and sustainability.
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