At yesterday evening’s New South Innovation’s Inventor the Year Award first prize in the Science and Engineering category was awarded to Prof. Veena Sahajwalla for her work in the development of polymer injection technology. This invention by Veena and her group enables rubber from waste car tyres to be injected into electric arc furnaces used in steel production in place of coking coal. The technology, which has already been licensed by OneSteel, provides significant environmental advantages by not only diverting waste tyres from landfill but also reducing the use of a non-renewable fossil fuel. The process has already been trialled in OneSteel plants in both Sydney and Melbourne and found to reduce consumption of coking coal by 12-16%!

Well done Veena on a well-deserved award.