CQUniversity is extending collaboration on aerated water research so micro bubble techniques can be incorporated into the current oxygation system used for crop irrigation.

Researchers from CQUniversity's Centre for Plant and Water Sciences, Professor David Midmore and Dr Surya Bhattarai are growing an association with the University of Sheffield, involving renowned professor William Zimmerman, an inventor of the Fluidic Oscillator for the generation of micro bubbles and nano bubbles.

Thomas Holmes with his micro bubbles

With support from Sheffield, CQUniversity is installing a pilot facility for micro bubble generation at its Rockhampton Campus.

University of Sheffield Senior Doctoral Fellow Thomas Holmes has been assisting with installation, operation, and trouble shooting of the micro bubble generation system.

Mr Holmes has a Masters degree in environmental chemistry and is a member of Engineers without Borders. He aims to contribute significantly to sustainable food, energy, and water to make a difference.

"The fluidic oscillator is a device that pulsates an airflow, and this allows a large number of small bubbles to be produced through a bubble diffuser, instead of a smaller number of larger bubbles, which normally happens," Mr Holmes said.

"The benefit of very small bubbles (micro bubbles) is that they diffuse their contents into the water much more rapidly; in this case their content is air for oxygation. If all goes well, our technology should allow you to rapidly oxygenate water for whatever applications you can think of. We at Sheffield Uni hope that it can be the start of a long-term collaboration that can yield research that will benefit everyone."

Project details are available via Dr Bhattarai on 07 4923 2140 or s.bhattarai@cqu.edu.au .

The micro bubble fluidic oscillator system