News

We just wrapped up our third successful Hub Fusion Series session, and it was a powerful reminder that breakthrough science requires robust societal frameworks to scale.

A huge thank you to Dr Bart van Bueren 白汎埔, who delivered a fantastic presentation on behalf of our Flagship Project 5 (FP5) team, under the leadership and supervision of Prof Jo Lindsay and A/Prof Martin Geissdoerfer. FP5 tackles one of the most critical frontiers in the circular economy (CE): Building Policy Support and Social Licence to Operate.

The Challenge: How do we get cutting-edge, low-carbon technologies out of the university lab and into commercial reality? The answer lies in multi-stakeholder communication. The FP5 team sits right at the intersection of:
Chemical Engineers
Politicians & Policymakers
Industry & Business Leaders
The Wider Community

The Vision Forward: To bridge these worlds, Jo, Martin, and Bart are working on developing innovative CE business tools and CE ecosystem tools. These frameworks will play a vital role in enhancing responsible innovation ecosystems and driving public acceptance of the low-carbon techniques being developed right here across our Hub nodes.

Next stop: Session 04 in a fortnight!

Our second Hub Fusion Series session was a resounding success! A massive thank you to the University of Western Australia team—Zhezi (Zeno) Zhang, Yubai Zhang, and Yuwei Wang —for dialing in from Perth to share their deep-dive research into PFAS treatment and THP-AD processes.

But the real magic of a Research Hub happens after the slides are closed.
I am thrilled to share that this session has already sparked a high-level strategic meeting scheduled for next Monday. Our Deputy Director Mr Dongke Zhang (UWA), Dr Ping Chen (the University of Queensland), and our Director Prof Lian Zhang (Monash University) will be convening to discuss new collaborative frontiers.

Why this matters: By connecting the experimental strengths at UWA, the materials expertise at UQ and at Monash, we are moving beyond regional silos. This is how we accelerate the value-added processing of carbon waste—by “fusing” our intellectual capital across the entire continent.

Onward to Session 03!

Collaboration isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a practice. Yesterday, we officially launched the Hub Fusion Series, a fortnightly forum designed to bridge the gap between our different research labs and institutions.

We were honored to have our Hub Director, Prof Lian Zhang, lead the inaugural session. He provided a strategic roadmap of the cutting-edge research being conducted within his group, setting a high bar for the “Masterclass” sessions to follow.

The technical “deep dives” perfectly illustrated the diversity of our Hub:
Yating Wu shared a critical analysis of policy frameworks surrounding the chemical recycling of plastic waste—reminding us that technology only works when the policy landscape supports it.

Ahmad Alsuwaidi took us into the digital realm, presenting his work on the “Digital Twin” of the FCC reactor, showcasing how machine learning is revolutionizing reactor efficiency.

The Highlight: While the formal session was 60 minutes, the “Fusion” didn’t stop there. Our in-person attendees at Monash University’s New Horizons building spent another half-hour engaged in organic discussion, sparking new ideas that only happen when researchers from different disciplines get in the same room.

A huge thank you to our presenters and to everyone who joined us both in-person and online from our partner universities.

The journey toward the value-added processing of carbon waste is a collective one. Next stop: Session 02 in a fortnight!

We are proud to announce that our First International Symposium on the Sustainable Processing of Carbon Waste held from the 3rd to 5th of December 2025 was a success!

Thank you to all our speakers, session chairs, industry partners, and researchers who contributed to an inspiring and productive day of discussion.

The symposium brought together experts from academia and industry to explore cutting-edge advances in value-added processing of underutilised carbon waste — from scrap tyres and plastics to crop residues and food waste.

Through keynote presentations, technical sessions, and interactive discussions, we strengthened collaboration across our network and identified new opportunities to accelerate innovation.

A special thank you to our plenary speakers for sharing their insights, and to all participants who engaged so actively throughout the day.

We look forward to building on the momentum from this symposium as we work together to address the world’s carbon waste challenges and create sustainable, high-value solutions for the future.

ARC Research Hub for Value-Added Processing of Carbon Waste has officially launched on the 3rd of December 2025!

On behalf of the Director, Prof Lian Zhang, and the Deputy Director, Mr Dongke Zhang, we are pleased to share that the ARC Research Hub for Value-Added Processing of Underutilised Carbon Waste was officially launched on 3 December.

We are honoured to have Ms Bonnie Johnson, Ms Helen Partridge, Prof Yiannis Ventikos FREng MA PhD, Prof Katya Pas, Prof Geoff Wang, and Mr Bert Huys join us in unveiling the plaque.

A special thank you to Prof Adrian Neild for serving as MC and helping make the event such a success.

We are also grateful to all our chief and partner investigators, as well as the research teams across our collaborating universities and organisations, for celebrating this milestone with us.

Our Hub is dedicated to tackling the growing challenge of carbon waste — including scrap tyres, plastics, crop residues and food waste — which are often landfilled, stockpiled, or sent overseas, leading to significant environmental impacts.

We look forward to working with our partners to develop innovative, sustainable pathways for value-added processing and a cleaner future for Australia.

For more information, please view the following article: https://lnkd.in/gbzKTYn9

This marks the beginning of an exciting chapter, where we’ll be diving deep into addressing the pressing accumulation of carbon waste such as scrap tyres, plastics and crop waste with the aim of developing upcycling technologies to reclaim value from waste and playing our part in the circular economy.