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Mr Mick Stuckings, Technical Analyst

Mr Mick Stuckings, Technical Analyst

Thanks to the support of BHP Billiton and OZ Minerals, there is now increased capacity for analysis at the ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium.

The Research Hub brings together a team of scientists, engineers and regulators to find new ways of making Australian copper production more economically and environmentally sustainable.

The industry support has now extended to the purchase of new state of the art equipment, and the appointment of Technical Analyst Mr Mick Stuckings.

“The focus of my role is to understand the needs of industry and the researchers, and the materials and processes they are working with. I can then suggest analyses to get the best results as efficiently as possible” Mr Stuckings said.

His role also involves managing and analysing many Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill samples between multiple laboratories across locations at the University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, Monash University and Flinders University.

The new industry support means that Research Hub scientists can analyse samples more efficiently and work with smaller samples. This is thanks to BHP Billiton which has bought two pieces of state of the art gamma spectrometry detection equipment, and upgraded the alpha spectrometry laboratory. This has made sample analysis more efficient, more prompt, and in the long run, better for industry.

The new detector with a sample vial in place in the top.

The new detector with a sample vial in place in the top.

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7 December 2016

Premier Jay Weatherill opened the ARENA Firm Supply Forum at the University of Adelaide on 7 December 2016, initiating robust and wide-ranging discussion on South Australia’s energy supply and energy security. The meeting highlighted the important future roles of solar thermal and energy storage technologies.Jay Weatherill

The event followed the severe storm event in South Australia on 28 September, during which transmission and distribution electricity assets were damaged and led to a statewide blackout. It preceded the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on 9 December, at which Chief Scientist and AO Dr Alan Finkel presented his preliminary report to the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market.

The forum highlighted that a greater understanding of renewable energy technology in South Australia is needed. Which technologies should we focus on and invest in? How do we ensure they will meet our needs? Seventy people, including industry, researchers and policy-makers were in attendance.

At the cocktail function that evening, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis confirmed that the South Australian renewable energy sector was not to blame for the statewide power outage in September. The Australian Energy Market Operator explains the causes of the outage on their website.

 

 

 

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30 November 2016

Top German researchers and industry leaders mingled with Australian students and researchers as part of an “Energy Efficiency in Cities” seminar series recently held in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane.

Energy consumption in buildings accounts for over 40 per cent of all energy consumed in Europe, mainly for heating and hot water generation. This is why German and Australian researchers are looking for new, smarter ways to saving energy in the built environment.

In Australia, 40 per cent of household energy use goes to heating and cooling.

The CET hosted the Adelaide event. About 50 students and researchers took part in the Adelaide event, along with five Germans.

The aim was to create an interactive platform for lasting relationships between Australian universities and German companies and researchers. A relationship was forged with the University of Dortmund, which is carrying out important work on energy grids and smart cities, two things researchers at the University of Adelaide also specialise in.

The Germans presented examples of their innovations for the built environment Smart Grids, Smart Buildings, and Sensors and Data Enabling Human Centric Buildings. University of Adelaide researchers presented on designing for Australian cities, innovative cooling technology and Smart Cities.  The seminar series was part of the Germany-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s Energy Efficiency – made in Germany Initiative.

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7 July 2015 The CET team has been awarded $645,000 to enable commercial scale production of biocrude from microalgae or biosolids at the Muradel production plant in Whyalla, South Australia. The project will advance knowledge about and develop new engineering design tools for a novel hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) reactor. The aim is to scale-up HTL […]

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