CSIRO-RMIT Masters by Research Scholarship

Developing materials that are highly efficient at recovering oil to mitigate the environmental impact of oil spills is both crucial and challenging. This collaborative Masters by Research project between CSIRO Manufacturing and RMIT University aims to design and optimise the application of a novel spongy super-hydrophobic material for oil spill clean-up through small pilot-scale testing. The ultimate goal is to significantly improve oil filtration efficiency in Oil Spill Response, potentially revolutionising current practices and contributing to environmental sustainability.

A hyper-crosslinked polymer-coated sponge (HPCS) was previously developed and successfully applied by CSIRO Manufacturing to remove crude oil from oil-in-water emulsions to improve oil spill clean-up processes. This research will advance the technology by scaling up the HPCS production and the filtration process to facilitate its future implementations. The project activities include formulating and fabricating functional sponges, optimising the product at a large scale, improving the filtration process, conducting system characterisation and preparing research papers for publication.