Valeria Almeida Lima

PhD Candidate
Contact Details
T: +61-2-9385 6915
E: v.almeidalima@student.unsw.edu.au
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Room 808, Chemical Sciences Bldg
The University of New South Wales
Sydney, 2052, Australia

Profile

Education

  • Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (2013), Federal Rural University of the Semiarid area - UFERSA, Mossoro, Brazil

EMPLOYMENT

  • Trainee (2012-2013) Fillmore Greenhouses, Portageville-NY, USA

Research Project

NEW MEMBRANE-BASED SUBSURFACE IRRIGATION TO IMPROVE USE OF BRACKISH WATER

The use of water with a high presence of total dissolved solids (TDS) can potentially degrade both plant growth and soil quality. In order to mitigate these impacts, the removal of salts from water prior to irrigation is required, which can be achieved through conventional desalination processes. However, due to their complexity and high costs, their full scale application for irrigation is not feasible. A novel membrane- based subsurface irrigation system aims to alleviate desalination costs for irrigation as desalination is approached in a different configuration. Semi-permeable membranes, such as reverse and forward osmosis, are used to form irrigation pipes from which water can be uptake naturally by soil and plant roots in both time and quantity required, which also minimises water loss by mismatched estimation of crop water requirements.

This study focus on identifying the best operational conditions for high performance on water delivery and understanding the mechanisms involved on water transport for this new membrane based irrigation method. The technology will allow the cultivation of crops in many precincts where low quality water is available but still a limiting factor due to their salt concentration.

Supervisors

  • Pierre Le-Clech
  • Greg Leslie
  • Bruce G. Sutton