Key insights and takeaways from the RACI Congress
WaterRA CEO David Bergmann took the opportunity to promote the opportunities for chemistry to make an impact on the water sector's contaminants, emissions, and resource-recovery opportunities at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Congress last week
The Congress brings together chemistry professionals, academia, industry and government, and is held every four years, with this year’s held in Perth. David spoke and was a panellist at the Congress, discussing on the role of green and sustainable chemistry, and WaterRA’s Outlook and the ‘Big 8’ challenges for research in the Australian water sector.
With two days of conference sessions, the Congress provided many insights and much to consider. Read on for key perspectives and takeaways relevant to the water sector. Please reach out to David, or any of Research Team if you want further information, or if it creates some other ideas for discussion.
Photo catalysis
UV and light-induced catalysis had a high profile at the Congress. Stoichiometric reactions and catalyst systems typically require the input of energy to overcome or reduce the activation energy for a reaction bond formation or breaking to occur. Photocatalysts gain that energy from UV and/or visible light for reactions to proceed at much lower temperatures and energy input.
Photocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide from water, for use in water treatment is known (see Production of Hydrogen Peroxide by Photocatalytic Processes) and research has continued into various catalyst systems, including one made by Macquarie University researchers from waste plastic, with the plan to work towards an onsite unit for direct water treatment, avoiding transportation and storage costs and issues. Tanyi Ma from RMIT University also shared progress on the scale-up of floating photocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen production cells from water.
Other photocatalysis work focussed on the catalysts for light-induced reactions for advanced oxidation processes such as the destruction of contaminants in water and wastewater. For example, Professor Xiaoguang Duan’s research at the University of Adelaide for water purification using single-atom catalysts (SACs) to degrade persistent organic pollutants using biomass carbon as the supporting structural system. Other Adelaide University researchers also reported that they have developed a light-activated material that can degrade PFAS into its mineralised components. Further progress on the use of graphene-coated sand and its photocatalytic capability has been reported and now further advanced by Adelaide University researchers with a patent in progress.
Carbon and its biomass sources
Carbon remains of intense interest for energy storage, the structure for catalysts, and electronic componentry. The water sector with its biosolid sources of biomass remains an option for this carbon, depending on the level of purity required, and/or the ability to remove contaminants and metals. For example, biomass waste source as the carbon frameworks for single atom catalysts as a new generation of atom efficient and highly selective conversions. And lignin-derived carbon as the anode for sodium ion batteries.
CO₂ electrolysis was also a hot topic, with a lot of effort going into low-energy processes for transforming CO₂ into other materials, including carbon, and synthesis gases.
Materials and sensing
Smart materials, sensing, and sensing materials were also a strong theme at the Congress. Sei Kaito reported progress on using UV light to soften and enable plastics and mend cracks and damage. Researchers at Lan Trobe University discussed their progress on a portable biosensor for rapid, on-site detection of PFAS in water using protein structures, providing quicker detections compared to laboratory-based methods.
Moisture Energy Generation (MEG)
Technology and materials for moisture energy generators (MEGs) appeared multiple time across the Congress. They don’t yet appear to have any application in the water sector, but could be a technology worth monitoring for advances in their power output and robustness progress. MEG generate electricity by harvesting energy from ambient humidity or water evaporation. Using materials like specialized hydrogels or carbon nanotubes, they absorb water molecules to create an internal ion concentration gradient. This movement of charged particles creates a continuous flow of electrical current, which can be used to power sensors and other monitoring devices (Green moisture-electric generator based on supramolecular hydrogel with tens of milliamp electricity toward practical applications). The potential combination of MEG with humidity technology with recent reports of capacity improvements of up to 1000L/day, could make these solutions more relevant to remote and regional communities.
Hydrogen from water
Hydrogen production, electrolysis technology, and hydrogen carriers were a topic across the Congress, and were reflective of more realistic expectations about how widespread its production and application will be, somewhat moderated compared to the hype of recent years. Encouragingly, there seems to be good progress on direct use of less pure sources of water (even seawater) into hydrogen electrolysers (for example, the work of Professor Shizhang Qiao)
With a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from Monash University, David maintains an active role in the RACI and is the inaugural industry representative on the newly-formed Green & Sustainable Chemistry (GASC) Division Committee of RACI. For more information about RACI and GASC take a look at the website links or contact David for more information and introductions.