Mineral and Materials Processing Research Unit (MMPRU)
The MMPRU has, for well over a decade, delivered innovative technologies and solutions across a wide range of disciplines including mineral processing, waste management and infra-structure rehabilitation and protection primarily for the water utility industries.
Our goal is improve and develop new processes, which are effective, energy saving, easily controlled and environmentally safe. To this end, the key achievements of MPPRU have included:
- Pioneering the use of natural and adapted fungi organisms in leaching metallic fractions from minerals and wastes.
- Development for the first time, time and temperature resolved analysis of mineral reactions using synchrotron based X-ray diffraction.
- Our group has been the first to develop the correlation between heteroatoms in determining the surface chemistry of adsorbents and in using physical models in assisting in the optimisation and development of adsorbents.
- Understanding of the corrosion behaviour of cement and epoxy based linings
- Development of monitoring strategies to assess the performance of linings in sewers and treatment plants.
- Development of technology of extracting phytochemicals and stabilisation of sugar cane wax.
- Pioneered methods for stabilisation of biomass for storage.