Professor Moghtaderi wins an Australian Good Design Award for the world’s first VAM abatement testing facility
Professor Behdad Moghtaderi has been awarded a prestigious Good Design Award in the Engineering Design category for the world’s first large-scale testing facility for assessment of ventilation air methane (VAM) abatement systems.
Ventilation and air methane (VAM) accounts for 60% of emissions from underground coal mines so the safe abatement of VAM, addressed in Professor Moghtaderi’s design, represents a significant opportunity.
Professor Moghtaderi said the 100 metre long detonation tube allows for VAM abatement systems and components, such as capture ducts, mitigation measures and thermal oxidisers, to be tested and subjected to a variety of operating scenarios including controlled methane / coal dust explosions.
“The corresponding responses of VAM abatement systems and components in mitigating fugitive methane emissions can then be accurately measured and analysed, allowing their effectiveness to be quantified at full-scales under realistic conditions,” Professor Moghtaderi said.
Of the 536 innovative designs entered in the Good Design Awards, Professor Moghtaderi’s project was selected for its overall objective to reduce methane or greenhouse gas emissions.
Professor Moghtaderi received the prestigious award at the 60th Anniversary of the annual Good Design Awards ceremony hosted at the Sydney Opera House yesterday.
The awards celebrate the best new products and services on the market, excellence in architectural design, digital and communication design and reward emerging areas of design including business model innovation, social impact and design entrepreneurship.
Winners of the Good Design Awards will be showcased to the general public at Vivid - the world's biggest festival of light, music and ideas in Sydney from 25-27 May at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay.
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