The 2018 Newcastle Region Engineering Excellence Awards have just taken place with Professor Behdad Moghtaderi from the University of Newcastle winning an award.
It comes for his development of the world’s first large scale testing facility for ventilating air methane abatement.
Professor Moghtaderi says the demand for this technology was high and up until now, no facility existed to do this testing.
"The facility we designed and built was the first of its kind in the world," he said.
The mining industry is once again on the rise with this technology replicating a real mine site, allowing tests related to methane flammability or explosions of oil and gas to take place.
Professor Moghtaderi says the $10 million design is a part of a larger project focused on fugitive methane emissions for mining operations in particular.
"The benefits of the facility is it allows people who work in that space to come and test their innovation related to fugitive methane emissions abatement under realistic conditions," he said.
Proud of his and his team's effort Professor Moghtaderi says the award didn't come as a huge surprise due to everyone's hard work but it was a humbling experience.
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| Professor Moghtaderi Accepting Engineering Excellence Award. Image: UON |
