An alliance between researchers, industry, and tech-transfer experts is fast tracking the commercialisation of clean technologies that improve energy efficiency and shrink carbon emissions.

Imagine if we made our buildings, clothes, food, energy, and transport systems in ways that didn't harm the planet or the natural processes that sustain life. Regrettably, we're a long way from that goal but leading companies and research organisations are hastening the adoption of more sustainable energy and industrial processes that are boosting competitiveness.

Around the globe, nations such as China, South Korea, Germany, Sweden and Denmark are investing in "clean-technology" with the hope of dominating a market that may be worth US$2 trillion by 2030. Accompanying this investment has been the massive expansion of support infrastructure, such as university-industry research hubs and science and technology parks intended to hasten the commercialisation of promising new technologies.

In Australia, universities and major research agencies like the CSIRO perform 57 per cent of the nation's basic research. Initiatives such as the Cooperative Research Centres, National Research Flagships, ARC Linkage Grants and the AusIndustry Program aim to foster industry-research links and shorten the "bench-to-business" timeframe while focusing university-research on national priorities.

In addition, most of our leading universities and research agencies house technology transfer infrastructure that provide professional advisory and commercialisation services to their researchers. These efforts help bridge the gap between basic and applied research discoveries and facilitate their uptake as commercialised new products and services. Without them, many promising discoveries would never make it to market because few businesses would be aware of them or their commercial potential.

At UNSW, the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) and NewSouth Innovations are collaborating with a host of companies to fast track the commercialisation and industry-uptake of technologies that improve energy efficiency and shrink carbon emissions. Established two years ago, the SMaRT Centre has aligned itself with some of UNSW's top researchers in the fields of materials science, engineering, architecture and design.

Under the directorship of Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla the centre has forged strategic industry-research partnerships in energy-intensive sectors such as building, manufacturing, mining, steel and aluminium smelting. With partners such as OneSteel, Rio Tinto, Alcan and Vecor the centre is pursuing joint research on new recycling methods that harness value from waste by converting it into high value products, or by using it as a feedstock to make products.

"Our aim is to develop innovative, sustainable materials and processes through world-class research, with strong emphasis on environmental and economic benefits," says Sahajwalla, who is also Associate Dean of Strategic Industry Relations for the UNSW Science Faculty. "Our close industry links, including having several leading industry representatives on our board, underscore our ambition to assist with the transfer of new materials and processes by tackling the scientific and commercial barriers that can inhibit technology transfer and adoption."

Pivotal to this ambition is role of NewSouth Innovations – UNSW's technology transfer company – that commercialises novel technology and processes arising from the research of UNSW staff and students. A new NSi-Science Faculty strategy that has paid dividends in the past year has been the deployment of a NSi business development manager to work intensively with the SMART Centre and the UNSW Science Faculty to foster outcomes supportive of commercialisation. The strategy has seen a rapid payoff by increasing the number of intellectual property notifications from Science Faculty researchers. IP notifications are the starting point for commercialising intellectual property.

One of UNSW's most successfully commercialised technologies has been polymer injection technology that allows the diversion of rubber and plastic from waste streams for recycling into steel. Scientia Professor Sahajwalla completed an IP notification for this technology in 2004. Today, the Australian steelmaker OneSteel has licensed the technology from NewSouth Innovations and successfully trialled and implemented it at its Sydney and Melbourne electric-arc furnace steelmaking plants.

The technology's commercial appeal lies in its ability to cut the cost of electric arc steelmaking by partially substituting coke –based carbon with recycled plastic and rubber. OneSteel has achieved significant annual savings through lower power bills and net savings on coke usage. It estimates that its use of the technology has the potential to divert 300,000 car tyres from landfill annually.

Another SMaRT Centre innovation is Obada Kayali's technology that converts fly ash waste into bricks and building aggregate. Fly ash is a by-product of burning coal to make electricity. Each year 800 million tonnes of the fine white powder are dumped in old mine shafts and ponds to hide its unsightly effects.

Products made from fly ash using Dr Kayali's recycling technology are more than 20 per cent lighter and stronger than standard clay bricks and concrete. The unique molecular structure of fly ash products make them highly durable and resistant to weathering, cracking and failure. Furthermore, fly ash bricks produce fewer carbon emissions than standard clay bricks during their manufacture because they take less heating time in a kiln.

If fly ash products were adopted widely by the construction sector it would deliver benefits such as lower carbon emissions, lower construction costs, and cheaper transportation. Building materials company Vecor Building Systems has signed a deal with NewSouth Innovations to commercialise fly ash technology around the world.

Vecor is also collaborating with NSi and SMaRT Centre to develop high tech ceramic products. The company is working with Municipal Government in northern China to build the world's first brick and tile factory using use fly ash technology. To be built adjacent to a coal-fired power station later this year, it will be able to produce 500 million bricks, 50 million pavers, and 25 million square metres of ceramic products annually.

NSi and the SMART Centre are working closely to develop new green technologies and to maximise the commercial return of recycling technologies such as polymer injection and fly-ash technologies, according to NSi chief executive, Mark Bennett. "Capital around the world is shifting to invest in research and companies that provide ways to operate in the low carbon economy of the near future," he says.

"The price of carbon-based energy is set to rise significantly and companies that shrink their carbon footprint by investing in energy efficiency and renewables will be the leaders of trade and commerce this century. Companies like OneSteel and Vecor understand this, and I expect the market to reward them."

 

The SMaRT Centre will host a joint industry-research sustainability symposium at UNSW from 9-10 September 2010. Details are available here.

 

Media contact:

Dan Gaffney, NewSouth Innovations, m 0411 156 015