ARC research hub transforms wastewater industry to produce liquid fertiliser

Assistant Minister for Education, Senator Anthony Chisholm, today officially launched the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Hub for Nutrients in a Circular Economy (NiCE), which is transforming the wastewater industry with a trailblazing, city-scale circular economy of nutrients.

Led by the University of Technology, Sydney, NiCE is commercialising nutrient recovery processing technologies by demonstrating uses of the liquid fertiliser produced from industrial and sewerage wastewater.

Senator Chisholm said the Hub’s outcomes will directly benefit Australia’s water utilities, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.

“The NiCE Research Hub is doing important work to improve urban resilience and produce environment benefits by reducing the amount of pollutants discharged into waterways,” Senator Chisholm said.

“The Research Hub’s recycling technologies can save significant sewage treatment costs, and they have successfully produced two nutrient rich fertilisers.”

The ARC awarded $2,062,428 in 2021 to the University of Technology Sydney to establish NiCE, under the Industrial Transformation Research Program.

The Industrial Transformation Research Program engages Australia’s best researchers with critical industry partners in building national capabilities.

“Research Hubs address the challenges facing the new industrial economies and they build a future workforce that can participate seamlessly across industry and universities,” Senator Chisholm said.

The Hubs support collaborative research which focus on strategic outcomes that would not be achieved independently.

NiCE works with 7 partner Universities and over 20 Industry partners.

The ARC advises the Government on research and administers the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), delivering around $800 million every year to the most dynamic researchers in Australia.