He will provide an overview of membrane research at Victoria University, Australia, and will highlight their work on membrane distillation and nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes for improved abrasion resistance. Victoria University has developed models for designing membrane distillation processes that has allowed them to move form laboratory systems to demonstration scale modules. Demonstration of membrane distillation for treatment of reverse osmosis brine, saline waters at power stations and textile wastewater streams have been undertaken and improved understanding of practical operational issues. This has produced techniques for cleaning of wetted and fouled membranes, and module designs for integration of membrane distillation into heat exchangers.
Application of ultrafiltration membranes for seawater pre-treatment exposes membranes to hard particles that are able to abrade polymer membranes. Addition of nanoparticles improves abrasion resistance and may extend lifetime performance for seawater pre-treatment.
Scholar Resume
Prof Gray has had a focus on water and membrane research for over 20 years, and was part of the CSIRO teams that developed MIEX™ resin and that conducted the Melbourne Water Climate Change Impact study. He has established Victoria University’s water research program that includes water treatment, water resource management, IT, ecology, psychology and economics, and led an Australian national research project on Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment. He led an Australian national research project on Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment and was recognised by Lux research as an international “Thought Leader” for his research on high recovery reverse osmosis and membrane distillation research.
He is Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Innovation at Victoria University, where he leads Victoria University’s water research program, and is part of research teams that are working towards commercialisation of membrane distillation from Victoria University research, have introduced ceramic membranes to Australian end users via a demonstration plant, and is currently assessing technology from a WaterRA project on reverse osmosis integrity monitoring for IP protection. He also recently led a project with Origin Energy to develop silica removal technology for their coal seam gas brines.
In 2013 he was recognised as Thought Leader in Lux Research's international review of water research, one of only 30 international researchers recognised as such. He is world renowned for his research on membrane distillation, organic fouling of low pressure membranes and is building a reputation for high recovery reverse osmosis systems.
In the field of membrane fabrication he has projects that span nanocomposite UF membranes for increased abrasion resistance, nanocomposite pervaporation membranes for niche applications, ceramic membranes for desalination in collaboration with a Korean company and small pore size metal membranes in collaboration with an industry partner and Deakin University. Work on nanocomposite UF membranes was the first (and currently only study) to demonstrated increased abrasion resistance of such membranes.
He is on the board of Water Research Australia, was a founding Director of the Membrane Society of Australasia (MSA) and is a past co-convenor of the Australian Water Association’s (AWA) Desalination and Membranes Special Interest Network.
He is also an editor of IWA’s Water Reuse and Desalination journal, on the editorial board of Desalination and an Associate Editor of Water Research.
