December 15, 2019

ARC Energy-Efficient Research Hub works closely with CSL Behring and brought up this meeting to spark the opportunity to transform the biotechnology industry by academic researches. We are privileged to have the prestige researchers from multiple disciplines (Chemical Engineering, Material Science, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Mechanical Engineering) to attend and share their insightful research outcomes in purpose to solve some technical problems in CSL Behring. The meeting was attended by Dr Hung Pham (R&D PPD Manager, CSL Behring), Dr Germano Coppola (Executive Director, CSL Behring), Prof Mark Banazak Holl (Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University), Prof Xiwang Zhang (Director of ARC-EESep, Monash University), Prof San Thang AC (School of Chemistry, Moanash University), Dr Xing Yang (Deakin University), Prof Bayden Wood (Director for the Centre of Biospectosocpy, Monash University), Dr Phillip Herauld (Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University), Dr Victor Cardaso (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University), Dr Andrea Merenda (Deakin University), Dr Ludovic Dumee (Deakin University), Prof Lingxue Kong (Deakin University), Dr Qinfu Hou (Monash University), Prof Rosainne Guijt (Deakin University), Prof Todor Vasiljevic (Victoria University), Dr Wang Zhao (Monash University) and Dr Soo Leong (Hub Manager of ARC-EESep, Monash University).

December 01, 2019

A/Prof Matthew Hill (CI of the Hub) received the Solomon Award for developing ‘magic crystals’ with dozens of applications from cleaning gases and liquids to mining and drug production. Associate Professor Hill's team at CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency) and Monash University has partnered with US company EnergyX to commercialise a new production process that uses MOFs to create lithium. Matthew received the inaugural David and Valerie Solomon Award, presented by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) on Friday, November 29, at an event in Melbourne. David Solomon was the principal inventor of Australia’s plastic banknotes, and has developed a range of new technologies used widely in the plastics and polymers industries. A/Prof Hill will receive $15,000 and 12 months mentoring from a senior entrepreneur/industry Fellow of the Academy, with $5000 travel expenses to enhance this mentoring experience. 

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November 29, 2019

The organising committee would like to express their appreciation and gratitude to all volunteers, Mr Jian Hu, Dr Meipeng Jian, Mr Shi Yuan, Dr Yaoxin Hu, Ms Yue Liu, Dr Wang Zhao, Dr Xiaofang Chen, Dr Emily Wang, Dr Xiangkang Zeng, Ms Xiaoyi Hu, Ms Rujing Hou, Mr Yun Xia, Mr Yang Li, Mr Hamidreza Mahdavi, Ms Leena Melag, Mr Yuan Kang and Dr Bhuvana Shanbhag. They have contributed their efforts and time without expecting any returns and worked together to make the conference so successful. They have demonstrated their commitments and excellence works from the planning, preparation, airport pickup, registration, design and on the conference day duties. Again, the organisers would like to thank them and wish them all the best in their research.

November 28, 2019

The organising committee of the iEESEP2019 has invited all the Plenary, Keynote and Invited Speakers, the distinguished guests, the CIs and PIs of the hub and the volunteers to an appreciation dinner at the Man Mo @WTC. Prof Xiwang Zhang (Co-chair of iEESEP2019 & Director of ARC-EESep) has expressed his appreciation to all which have contributed their time and efforts to make the conference so successful. He wishes to see more collaboration and new ideas as a results of this conference.

November 27, 2019

A lot of achievements and outcomes have been delivered by the ARC-EESep Research Team. The hub has a total of 20 active and on-going projects. All of the projects have great outcomes and collaboration with the industry partners. They have truly transformed the industry by innovative research for the past 2 years. This year, the hub has established 2 new awards which are The Hub Best Poster Presentation Award and The Hub Excellence Project Award. Each of the project has submitted a poster which clearly demonstrate the project nature and more importantly display the significant outcomes especially the impacts to the industry. On the other hand, the excellence award was given to the team who has delivered excellence job. The excellence awards were awarded to the team which has demonstrated great commitment, high impact to the industry partners and excellence outcome especially on the return of investment. The awards were given away during the iEESEP2019 Conference Dinner at SeaLife Aquarium Melbourne on 28 Nov 2019. The winners of the awards are listed below.

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The Hub Poster Presentation Award

1st Prize: Project IH17.3 - Victoria University & Activated Water Technologies

Prof Mikel Duke, Mr Bahay Ozcakmak, Dr Xing Yang, Mr Johnson Luo & Dr Peter Sanciolo

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2nd Prize: Project IH17.5 - Monash University
Dr He Lizhong & Dr Bhuvana Kamath Shanbhag

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3rd Prize: Project 17.9 - Monash University & Jiangsu Easthigh Environmental Holdings Co. Ltd.
Prof Xiwang ZHANG & Dr Meipeng Jian

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The Hub Excellence Award

1st Prize: Project IH17.7 - The University of Queensland and Arrow Energy
A/Prof Simon Smart, Mr Christopher Williams, Dr Julius Motuzas, Ms Charmaine Lamiel and Ms Yue Yuan

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2nd Prize: Project IH17.2 - Monash University & 2D Water
Prof Huanting Wang, Dr Nicholas (Ze-Xian) Low & Dr Zhouyou(Emily) Wang

3rd Prize: Project IH17.3 - Victoria University & Activated Water Technologies
Prof Mikel Duke, Mr Bahay Ozcakmak, Dr Xing Yang, Mr Johnson Luo & Dr Peter Sanciolo

November 28, 2019

The iEESEP2019 was concluded by the Closing Ceremony Remarks by Dr Dharma Dharmabalan (Industry Advisory Committee Member of ARC-EESep). Dr Dharmabalan expressed his gratitude to the organising committee and especially to the volunteers who has contributed their efforts and time to ensure the success of the conference. Prof Hokyong Shon (President of MSA) has announced the 10th International Membrane Science and Technology Conference (IMSTEC2020) will be held on 2 - 5 Feb 2020 at UTS.  A few awards were given away during the ceremony and the winners were:

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MDPI Best Oral Presentation

1st Prize - Dr Yaoxin Hu (Monash University)

2nd Prize - Dr Xiaoxiao Song (Zhejiang University of Technology)

3rd Prize - Dr Jue Hou (CSIRO)

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Travel Grants by MSA

Dr Farzaneh Mahmoudi (RMIT)

Dr Jia Ding (UTS)

November 28, 2019

The second day of the iEESEP2019 was packed with inspirational talks. Prof Ana Deletic (UNSW) and Prof Rong Wang (Nanyang Technological University) have delivered their plenary talks at the early of the day. The rooms was filled with about 150 researchers and industry key players to learn the latest findings in the area of membrane technologies and sustainable urban water systems. The delegates was privileged to listen to another 14 keynote talks and 18 invited talks which provide more rooms for further collaborations and discussions. The second day conference was ended with a closing ceremony.

November 27, 2019

The first day conference was ended with the gala dinner at Sea Life Aquarium Melbourne. The guests were joyful to have dinners with the mind blowing view of Yarra River and Coral Atoll with tropical fish. We are privileged to have Prof Aibing Yu (Pro Vice-Chancellor and President - Suzhou Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University) to deliver the welcome remarks to our guests at the beginning of the gala dinner. A few awards were given away during the dinners including the 3M Short Talk Best Overall Awards, 3M Short Talk People's Choice Awards, Hub Best Poster Awards and Hub Excellence Awards.

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November 27, 2019

There are more than 30 posters were presented during iEESEP2019. The judging session for the MDPI Best Poster presentation was held on the first day afternoon of the conference. Special thanks to Dr Lizhong He (Monash University), A/Prof Simon Smart (The University of Queensland) and Prof Long Nghiem (UTS) for their efforts and time to judge and evaluate for the posters. The organiser has given away 3 awards for the MDPI Best Poster Presentation and 3 awards for the People's Choice Poster Presentation which was selected by all the delegates through app. The winners of the awards are:

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MDPI Best Poster Presentation
1st Prize - Miss Yue Liu (Monash University)

2nd Prize - Dr Jinxing Ma (UNSW)

3rd Prize - Mr Yun Xia (Monash University)

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People's Choice Poster Presentation

1st Prize - Mr Yuan Kang (Monash University)

2nd Prize - Mr Roberto Katigbak (Deakin University)

3rd Prize - Mr Milad Lagnaei (Deakin University)

November 27, 2019

The exciting 2nd International Conference on Energy-Efficient Separation (iEESEP2019) was begin with Opening Ceremony on 28 Nov 2019 morning. We are grateful that our conference was open by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of Monash University, Prof Elizabeth Croft. Our distinguished guests, Prof Ana Deletic (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), UNSW), Prof Jiuhui Qu (Tshinghua University, Fellow of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Foreign Fellow of American National Academy of Engineering), Prof Rong Wang (Director of Singapore Membrane Technology Center, Nanyang Technological University), Prof Benny Freeman (William J. (Bill) Murray, Jr. Endowed Chair in Engineering in University of Texas at Austin), Prof Sandra Kentish (Head of the School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Melbourne), Prof Ranil Wickramasinghe (Director of Membrane, Science, Engineering and Technology Center (MAST), University of Arkansas) and Prof. Hokyong Shon (The president of the Membrane Society Australasia)  have made it a terrific conference.

November 26, 2019

The 2nd International Conference on Energy-Efficient Separation (iEESEP2019) was opened with the Welcome Reception at Pan Pacific Melbourne on 27 Nov 2019 evening. We are privileged to have about 140 delegates attended and celebrate together with us during the Welcome Reception. It was a good moment for the delegates to know each other and catch up with old co-workers and friends at this wonderful moment. Laughter and chatting was continue until about 8.00 pm at night and prepare for the next day opening ceremony for iEESEP2019.

November 26, 2019

In conjunction with iEESEP2019, 3M Short Talk was held for the postgraduate students to present their research project with only 1 slide for only 3 minutes was given. We are happy that there are a total of 23 PhD students have participated this event. There are a total of 6 awards were given away and the winners are:

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3M Short Talk: Best Overall Awards

1st Prize - Mr Lei Zheng (UTS)

2nd Prize - Ms Priyanka Kumari (Deakin University)

3rd Prize - Mr Xingya Li (Monash University)

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3M Short Talk: People's Choice Awards

1st Prize - Ms Ruosang Qiu (Monash University)

2nd Prize - Mr Ruoxin Wang (Monash University)

3rd Prize - Ms Shasha Liu (Monash University)

November 26, 2019

The first ARC-EESep Research Hub meeting with the members of Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), Industry Advisory Committee (IAC), Chief Investigators (CI) from academics and Partner Investigators (PI) from industry was held on 27 Nov 2019 at 4.30 - 6.00 pm at Pan Pacific Melbourne. The discussion was so fruitful and it was focused on how to transform the academic research findings into industry application. Thanks to Prof Xiwang Zhang (Director of the Hub), Prof Huanting Wang (Deputy Director of the Hub), Dr Dharma Dharmabalan (IAC member), Prof Tamarapu Sridhar (SAC member), Prof Benny Freeman (SAC member), Prof Jiuhui Qu (SAC member), Dr Keith Murphy (SAC member), Dr Hung Pham (IAC member), Dr Nicholas Low (IAC member), Prof Mikel Duke (CI), Prof Lingxue Kong (CI), Prof Long Nghiem (CI), Prof Hokyong Shon (CI), A/Prof Matthew Hill (CI) and Dr Soo Leong (Hub Manager).

November 26, 2019

We are grateful to have Dr Catherine Rees (Melbourne Water), Prof Long Nghiem (UTS), Dr Rebecca Yee (Biofuel Innovations) and Dr Adam Brotchie (Monash University) to share their experience on their career path after receiving their PhD degree. The workshop was attended by more than 50 postgraduate students and post-doctorate researchers on 27 Nov 2019 (1.30 - 3.30 pm) at Pan Pacific Melbourne in conjunction with iEESEP2019.

November 26, 2019

A Membrane Workshop was successfully co-organised by ARC-EESep and WaterRA on 27 Nov 2019 (9.00 am - 2.00 pm). There were more than 50 participants have attended the workshop. Specially thank to Dr Dharma Dharmabalan (Water Practitioner, Victoria & Tasmania), Prof Stephen Gray (Victoria University), Mr Bradley Rhodes (Veolia), Ms Linda Nappa (Veolia), Prof Xiwang Zhang (Director of ARC-EESep, Monash University), Prof Rong Wang (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Mr Daneil Bonini (SA Water), Mr Duncan Middleton (SEQ) and Prof Benny Freeman (The University of Texas at Austin, USA). The workshop has dicussed about the membrane operations as research solutions for industry challenges. The industry challenges and solution ideas have been brainstormed during the round table discussions and may bring forward the collaboration opportunity between the industry and academia.

November 12, 2019

We are glad to announce that Prof Huanting Wang (Deputy Director of ARC- EESEP) is appointed as Associate Editor for I&EC Research. Prof Wang brings expertise in nanoporous materials, membranes, separations, catalysis, and fuel cells. He is the first editor appointment to be based in Australia to make the editors team of I&EC Research now on four continents. Professor Wang has published over 300 research articles, several of which have earned “highly cited” status for being in the top 1% in their field. He was also recognized with an Excellence in Review award from I&EC Research in 2019.