New research hub to advance renewable energy and resource recovery

New research hub to advance renewable energy and resource recovery

RMIT will lead the RENEW Organics Hub, which will bring together academic, industry partners and government to support Australia's energy transition.

RENEW has received almost $5 million from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as part of the latest round of the Industrial Transformation Research Hubs initiative.

This investment will fund the RENEW Organics Hub, which will focus on three key themes: carbon recovery and advanced materials, renewable energy and fuels, and nutrient recovery and biofertilisers.  

The Hub is a cross-sector collaboration involving academic, industry and government partners, and aims to produce high-quality research that can be translated into real-world impact.

Professor Kalpit Shah, Deputy Head of Chemical and Environment Engineering, Research & Innovation in the School of Engineering, will serve as the Director of RENEW. 

Shah and RMIT will lead a consortium of Australian universities working at the Hub, including University of Technology Sydney, The University of Queensland, The University of New South Wales, The University of Western Australia, and Curtin University.

Major industry partners include Melbourne Water, Urban Utilities, Water Research Australia, Intelligent Water Networks, Saunders International, Hart Bioenergy, Water Corporation, EPA Victoria, and Barwon Water.

Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, Deputy Vice-Chancellor STEM College and Vice-President RMIT University, said the Hub highlights RMIT's leadership in areas of national priority such as energy security.

"RMIT is committed to delivering research and innovation that meets the needs of industry while advancing environmental protection for the wellbeing of individuals, societies and ecosystems. 

"This Hub is an excellent example of how RMIT's applied research environment, focused on interdisciplinary collaboration with industry partners, is uniquely set up to deliver innovative solutions towards a more sustainable, resilient energy future for Australia."

04 November 2026

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RENEW builds on more than a decade of research excellence, technology innovation and industry collaboration through RMIT's innovative Resource and Waste Technologies (iRWT) research group, the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource, and the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy (TREMS).

Over the past decade, RMIT researchers have worked with more than 50 industry partners to attract significant research funding and deliver substantial research translation and commercialisation outcomes.

In particular, the iRWT group, also led by Shah, has developed several patented technologies, with innovations progressing from laboratory research to pilot-scale demonstration, technology licensing and commercial deployment. 

One of these projects is PYROCO™, an Australian technology developed at RMIT that could enable more sustainable and cheaper production of biochar to replace petroleum-based products in electronic, construction and automotive applications.

Shah said the Hub will leverage RMIT's extensive research expertise in chemical and environment engineering to drive impactful outcomes.

"RENEW builds on more than a decade of successful university-industry collaboration, patented technologies and demonstrated research translation, creating a national platform to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative waste-to-resource technologies," he said.

"RENEW represents the next major step in building on the foundations set by RMIT researchers to scale our research, innovation and industry impact nationally, enabling safe, sustainable and economically viable resource recovery from diverse organic waste streams." 

The Hub is due to launch next year. For more information, get in touch with Professor Kalpit Shah at kalpit.shah@rmit.edu.au.

 

Story: Keely Tzoukos

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04 November 2026

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