University of Newcastle agrees partnership with Indian School of Mines DhanbadThu 28th May 2015
Professor Stephen Fityus from University of Newcastle tours ISM Dhanbad, during a visit to progress the Memorandum of Understanding.
The University of Newcastle (UON), Australia through its Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) has recently engaged with the Indian School of Mines (ISM) through a Memorandum of Understanding for research collaboration, joint academic and scientific activity, and knowledge exchange and training, with opportunity for significant impact in addressing the challenges of land use and the potential transformation of the Indian coal and power generation sector.
ISM successfully facilitates mining engineering education through close relation with the mining industry in a mineral-rich region of India. UON is in a strong position to support the collaboration through its world-class standing in civil and chemical engineering research, especially in the resources sector. NIER brings together UON’s leading researchers working in the area of energy and resources. The Institute’s multidisciplinary research capacity positions it to focus holistically on efficient next generation energy and resources production and distribution solutions, aligned with the energy reform agenda of government, industry and the global community.
Balancing increasing energy consumption with environmental sustainability is a global challenge. Key themes driving the collaborative research agenda include resource productivity and efficiency, remediation and balanced land use:
Resource Productivity and Efficiency:
Indian coals are not currently subjected to what is termed ‘coal preparation’ or beneficiation. Particulate emissions and associated pollutants present significant environmental and health impacts. It is well known that Indian coals are difficult to beneficiate and that standard approaches result in significant losses in the combustible recovery, meaning that less energy is generated. There are significant opportunities to focus collaborative work on coal beneficiation technology targeted at the unique requirements of the large reserves of coal, in particular the adaptation of existing technologies, critical to the future beneficiation of Indian coals.
Remediation
The global market for environmental remediation technologies is growing. Australia’s regulatory framework in this area is considered global best practice. Through groups such as CRC CARE (hosted by UON) and the University’s Global Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, we have been able to provide a collaborative platform for industry, researchers and regulators to develop innovative technology and policy solutions to complex contamination issues. India’s rapid industrialisation and population growth presents contamination and waste challenges affecting food security and the health of the population. Australia also has complex remediation issues to address, and this partnership will enable joint research in areas including clean-up and emission filtering technologies, and evidence based policy development in collaboration with industry.
Balanced Land Use
Australia’s food and energy security challenges are shared globally, making them priority areas for research and policy development. Balancing social, environmental and economic imperatives is a crucial component of meeting these challenges. In partnership with the NSW Department of Trade & Investment, NIER has established the International Centre for Balanced Land Use to offer a collaborative approach to providing solutions through independent research to optimal land use and social licence issues associated with the agricultural, mineral and resources industries. There is significant potential for valuable exchange with India in areas including co-existence, long-term sustainability of rehabilitated mine sites, water management, and socio-economic impacts of resource extraction.
UON and NIER look forward to developing the bilateral partnership with ISM and to collaboratively creating synergies in research to deliver global solutions to a number of key energy challenges.
The MOU will be signed at the 9th Australia-India Bilateral Talks in Brisbane this June.
