Research Projects
Techno-economics of liquid organic hydrogen carriers
A process and cost assessment of dibenzyltoluene as a hydrogen carrier, showing how the choice of hydrogenation catalyst changes system-level cost.
AI and machine learning for process modelling
Combining data-driven and hybrid models with first-principles and CFD modelling for chemical processes, and teaching the methods through short courses and collaboration.
Phase-field modelling of dendrites in lithium-metal batteries
Open-source finite element phase-field models of lithium electrodeposition, from planar interfaces to three-dimensional dendrites at experimental scale.
SpiroPak: 3D-printed structured packing
A spiral structured packing designed for additive manufacturing, with CFD and experiments on how packing geometry sets pressure drop and liquid distribution.
Food-grade γ-conglutin from Australian sweet lupin
Scalable extraction and purification of a blood-glucose-lowering lupin protein, with the bioactive peptides and mechanism of action worked out alongside.
A novel settling tank for produced water treatment
A settling tank with no moving parts that uses a swirling inlet flow to separate fine particles from produced water, developed with CFD and validated by PIV.
Circular economy testbed and anaerobic digestion modelling
Scoping an anaerobic digestion testbed for organic waste at Curtin, supported by a MATLAB model that fits batch methane data and simulates batch and continuous digesters.
Intensifying multiphase reactions and reactors
Strategies and worked examples for making gas-liquid and gas-solid reactors smaller, safer and more productive, from 3D-printed distributors to retrofit reactor inserts.
Bubble dynamics and tomography of bubbling beds
Simulations of single and interacting bubbles in liquids and thin columns, and electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) to measure bubbles in fluidized beds.
Solid oxide fuel cell modelling from cell to system
Multi-scale and dynamic tank-in-series models of solid oxide fuel cells, plus observer design to estimate internal states, built for process simulators.
LNG ambient air vaporizers: heat transfer, fog and frost
CFD models of how ambient air vaporizers warm cryogenic LNG, how they make fog and frost, and how LNG vapour disperses, to support safer design and siting.
Kafirin from sorghum: continuous purification and biomaterials
Purifying kafirin, the main sorghum seed protein, in a continuous fluidized-bed ion-exchange system, and characterising kafirin from grain and from distillers grain for food-grade biomaterials.
Gas-liquid and solid-liquid stirred tanks
CFD and optical-probe measurements of how stirred tanks suspend solids and disperse gas, from dilute to dense slurries, and from baffled tanks to unbaffled vortices.
Hydrodynamics of FCC risers, strippers and catalyst circulation
CFD and gamma-ray measurements of the gas-solid flow in fluid catalytic cracking units, and tests of baffles and pulsating flow to make them perform better.
Multiscale modelling of gas-solid flow and drag
Lattice Boltzmann simulations of particle clusters, energy-minimisation multiscale (EMMS) drag models and closure studies that make CFD of risers and fluidized beds more predictive.
Droplet impact and evaporation on hot surfaces
Experiments and simulations of droplets hitting, spreading on and evaporating from hot surfaces and particles, including film boiling above the Leidenfrost temperature.
Modelling fluidized bed polymerization reactors
Reactor models linking polymerization kinetics, particle size distribution and condensed-mode operation in fluidized bed polypropylene reactors, plus jet fluidization experiments and CFD.