An ANSTO scientist has won an Australia-wide competition with an idea to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using and reusing mining waste.
Dr Jessica Hamilton won the Falling Walls Lab Australia event hosted by the Australian Academy of Science. She will now compete in a global event hosted virtually in Germany later this year by the Falling Walls Foundation.
The foundation was established in Berlin in 2009 to mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and is dedicated to the support of science and the humanities.
This year's Australian competition saw scientists, academics and innovators present their ideas, research and initiatives focusing on the theme, 'Which are the next walls to fall?'
Dr Hamilton, a beamline scientist at ANSTO's Australian synchrotron, won first prize for her use of beamline technology to produce valuable products and offset carbon dioxide emissions by recycling mining wastes.
She used mining waste to trap carbon dioxide in mineral form, and then transformed mineral wastes into a metal-enriched resource that could be re-mined.
The process is now being tested in diamond mines in Africa and Canada.
ANSTO's group executive for research translation and Australian synchrotron Professor Andrew Peele said the win was a tremendous achievement.
"As scientists, we are always looking for ways to apply science to deliver an outcome or benefit and what we have here is a very practical and clever way to help support our environment," Dr Peele said.
"This is a highly regarded competition and I would like to congratulate Dr Hamilton on this win."
Dr Hamilton developed the idea during her PhD at Monash University.
"Hopefully, one day it will be used to offset emissions at mines around the world," she said.
