Zero emissions energy and industry

Hydrogen embrittlement is a major hurdle on the path to a future decarbonised society fuelled by green hydrogen. In short, hydrogen embrittles metallic components in an unpredictable and catastrophic fashion. Our research aims to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the hydrogen embrittlement process and identify material technology solutions that will enable safe hydrogen pipeline transmission and vessel storage at scale.

Australia’s gas pipeline network is worth $300-billion. The outcomes of NZI’s research in this space will protect the existing, highly valuable infrastructure from hydrogen embrittlement, ensuring the safe delivery of hydrogen fuel across the country. This will facilitate Australia’s transition to a hydrogen economy and net zero emissions.

Research themes:

• Using advanced microscopy techniques to observe the behaviours of hydrogen atoms in metallic materials and how they initiate failures at small scales
• Determining the susceptibilities of individual microstructural features to hydrogen embrittlement
• Developing a microstructural design strategy that can lead to materials with sufficient hydrogen embrittlement resistance

Lead: Dr Eason Chen

Team: Professor Assaad Masri, Dr Jingjing You, Dr Fengwang Li, Ranming Niu, Professor Julie Cairney, Professor Xiaozhou Liao, Professor Simon Ringer, Professor Anna Paradowska, Professor Gwénaëlle Proust, Professor Luming Shen

The transition to net zero energy requires big advancements in energy storage in order to ensure a reliable, low-cost energy supply. Not only do we need technologies that improve battery performance and lifespan, energy storage devices and components must also work well together within larger energy storage systems. Our research focusses on energy storage materials and device components as well as their integration in final applications.

The transition to net zero energy will involve a massive investment in new infrastructure – estimated by the International Energy Agency to be the order of US$2.4 trillion per year for the next 15 years. A significant portion of this investment will be directed toward new energy storage technologies and systems. The high level of collaboration and knowledge-sharing across energy storage research groups at the NZI will maximise investment by streamlining our R&D in this space, enabling advances in energy storage to reach the market sooner.

Research themes:

• Material development and component design: develop new material which can improve the performance of batteries / supercapacitors and fuel cells
• System integration and control: optimal integration of various energy storage components into a hybrid system and their power / load sharing
• Health management and degradation: estimation and prediction of remaining useful life using machine learning algorithms

Lead: Associate Professor Dries Verstraete

Team: Professor Jian Guo Zhu, Professor Yuan Chen

We're boosting the productivity and profitability of wind farms through advanced real time digital twins.

A digital twin enables a reduction in power losses due to aerodynamics interactions, fast identification of faulty wind turbines, and mitigation of excessive unscheduled maintenance and operation costs.

Our work will allow the operators of wind farms to better forecast short and long-term power outputs and so enable them to participate more effectively in the electricity markets.

The potential annual benefits to Australian wind farms range from $250 million to $1bn.

Research themes:Data Driven Computational Engineering: how can near-real time, high fidelity, physics informed data driven models transform wind farm profitability and operations?

Research themes:

• Data Driven Computational Engineering: how can near-real time, high fidelity, physics informed data driven models transform wind farm profitability and operations?
  
  
• Optimise while you learn: can statistical approaches to data driven high and low fidelity modelling deliver accurate faster-than real time digital twins needed to provide accurate forecasts?
  
  
• Power system and Structural: can power systems, aerodynamic, structural and predictive maintenance models be combined to both improve power output and reduce unscheduled maintenance?

Lead: Professor David Airey

Team: Professor Kim Rasmussen, Professor Philip Leong, Professor Ian Manchester, Associate Professor Michael Kirkpatrick, Professor Greg Verbic, Dr David Boland, Dr Michael Groom, Associate Professor Shuaiwen Song, Dr Gareth Vio

Our research tackles the challenges surrounding the use of Powerfuels in combustion systems and fuel cells. We aim to facilitate Powerfuel production and utilisation by developing novel, efficient, and cost-effective technologies for synthesising ammonia (NH3) and enhancing carbon sequestration from point sources and direct air capture.

We are addressing fundamental issues to expedite the implementation of green fuels in combustion systems and create efficient, durable, and stable fuel-cell technologies for various applications, ranging from household power to transport. Green fuels, essential for decarbonising heavy industries, are considered carbon-neutral or carbon-negative alternatives to fossil fuels, deriving from renewable energy sources.

Production of Powerfuels research themes:

• Plasma driven electrochemical synthesis of ammonia and green fuels
• Converting organic waste resources to Biofuels and Chemicals
• Converting CO₂ to chemicals including green methane, methanol formaldehyde and associated advanced catalysis
• Alternative electrolysers architectures
• Developing advanced catalysts for water electrolysis and fuel cells
• Process Systems Engineering: Systems modelling and optimisation, process design and integration, modelling power fuels eco-industrial precincts, energy from waste, and waste heat recovery
• Efficient transition of metal/carbon water splitting electrocatalysts for hydrogen production
• Development of porous electromaterials for Hydrogen Production and Energy Storage, and Low-cost, robust, high-activity water splitting electrodes
• Sustainable production of hydrogen and fuels from solid wastes, biomass, and greenhouse gas via catalytic transformation
• Low-pressure NH₃ synthesis using new catalysts to enhance the energy efficiency and to promote the green production of ammonia

Storage of Powerfuels research themes:

• Developing advanced materials to store ammonia safely
• Developing and deploying new solar thermal-driven (renewable process heat) industrial processes (heat battery, Solar reactor, concentrated solar thermal processes)
• Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and integration with carbon market and policy: developing low emissions technology for capturing carbon emissions to produce value-added products such as fuels and chemicals

Effective utilisation of Powerfuels research themes:

• Investigating turbulent combustion of H2-NH3-Hydrocarbon mixtures: exploring the effects of differential diffusion and compositional inhomogeneity
• Investigating atomisation characteristics and turbulent combustion of ammonia sprays
• Conducting computations of preferential diffusion, instabilities, and finite-rate chemistry in turbulent flames of H2-NH3 mixtures
• Improving safety of H2 utilisation through experiments and modelling of fuel leak dispersion and explosions
• Improving fuel cell efficiency and applications
• Designing novel fuel cell architectures for high power Density.

Lead: Professor Assaad Masri

Team: Associate Professor Agisilaos Kourmatzis, Professor Matthew Cleary, Dr Matthew Dunn, Professor Jun Huang, Associate Professor Alejandro Montoya, Professor Ali Abbas, Professor PJ Cullen, Professor Yuan Chen, Professor Antonio Tricoli, Associate Professor Daniel Gozman, Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou, Associate Professor Stefano Palomba, Associate Professor Dries Verstraete, Professor Jian Guo Zhu, Dr Arman Siahvashi.

Our research aims to relieve energy shortage and improve global sustainability through converting greenhouse gas, (CO2, CH4, and NOx etc) into valuable fuels and chemicals.

Greenhouse gases conversion and utilisation are of great ecological & economic significance. Its optimal and wide utilisation could contribute to a more sustainable future and offer an opportunity for Net-Zero Industry transition.

Research themes:

• The development of novel, high-efficient technologies for the selective conversion of carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals such as methanol, ethanol etc.
• Fabricating economic and durable material for capturing and converting both carbon dioxide and methane into hydrogen and valuable chemicals.
• Exploring low-emission, sustainable, and stable technologies to produce fertiliser from greenhouse gases.
• Maximising the carbon credits and economics for GHG reduction processes.

Lead: Professor Jun Huang, Professor Catherine Stampfl, Professor Ali Abbas, Professor Xiaozhou Liao, Associate Professor Alejandro Montoya, Professor Assaad Masri, Professor Rongkun Zheng, Dr Fengwang Li, Dr Shenlong Zhao, Weibin Liang

Green hydrogen presents an excellent opportunity to decarbonise multiple sectors including transportation, energy markets and industrial sectors. Barriers remain to the realisation of a hydrogen-based economy, including the cost of production, the cost of infrastructure, as well as the safe handling, transportation and storage domestically and internationally. Uncertainties in supply-demand chains also require de-risking of the sector. Our research is tackling these issues through an interdisciplinary approach that considers the relationship between multiple industries that are transitioning to hydrogen usage.

Green hydrogen is emerging as an industry worth up to $5 billion, and demand is estimated to increase from about 90 million tonnes in 2020 to 660 million tonnes in 2050. The target cost for green hydrogen to be viable as an export commodity is $2/kg-delivered to the user while the current cost is almost three times higher. Our research will develop the framework to facilitate the cost-effective production and utilisation of green hydrogen.

Research themes:

• Developing advanced catalysts for water electrolysis and fuel cells
• Efficient transition of metal/carbon water splitting electrocatalysts for hydrogen production
• Development of porous electromaterials for Hydrogen Production and Energy Storage, and Low-cost, robust, high-activity water splitting electrodes
• Sustainable production of hydrogen and fuels from solid wastes, biomass, and greenhouse gas via catalytic transformation
• Plasmonic Green H2: the green hydrogen revolution
• Developing advanced materials to store hydrogen safely
• Improving safety of H2 utilisation through experiments and modelling of fuel leak dispersion and explosions
• Improving fuel cell efficiency and applications
• Designing novel fuel cell architectures for high power Density.