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Tuesday, 5 October 2010

A team of academics and PhD students from the Centre for Energy and School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering attended the annual Chemeca 2010 Conference , held at the Hilton Adelaide last week.  Chemeca 2010 provides a forum for engineers and chemists all over the world to discuss current issues and share their research.

Winthrop Professor Dongke Zhang FTSE, Director of the Centre for Energy (pictured) commented that ... “the 40th Chemeca, the Australasian Chemical Engineering Conference, in Adelaide, is in my opinion the best ever Chemeca and we would like to congratulate Professor Mark Biggs and his organising team at Adelaide University and thank them for putting together a wonderful program.”

UWA Centre for Energy was a sponsor of Chemeca 2010 and UWA chemical engineering and Centre for Energy were well represented at the Conference with 6 attendees (Yinong Liu, Matt Hardin, Yee-Kwong Leong, Madeleine Bussemaker, Kay Zeng and Dongke Zhang) presenting 9 papers.

Professor Dongke Zhang was a key note speaker and gave an insightful talk on ‘How far and how fast can bioenergy travel’ reminding listeners of the shortfalls which must be overcome to implement a biorefinery idea as well as the important consideration of food sources when making biofuels.

PhD student, Madeleine Bussemaker said she thought it was a fantastic opportunity to see and learn so much about other research ideas and methods within the chemical engineering industry and share her own research in such a valuable forum.

She said that the ‘engineering at the edge’ theme was upheld within the education talks with the introduction of a fascinating new virtual version of the Coogee Energy Methanol Plant delivered by A/Prof David Shallcross. The program gives students an opportunity to see and experience a real plant without the problems associated with bringing 250 students to an industrial site.


Another highlight of the Conference was the Chem-E-Car race for undergraduates which was organised by UWA Professor Matt Hardin. The Chem-E-Car competition challenged undergraduate chemical engineering students and high-school science students to:

Design and build a small car (it must fit within a shoebox) that is powered by a chemical reaction. Your car must be able to carry a certain load of water and then stop closest to a specified distance. Closest car is the winner! So what’s the catch? You will only find out one hour before the competition the size of the load and the distance to be travelled.

The Chem-E-Car competition gave students opportunity to learn by their own discovery and demonstrate their ability to control a chemical reaction.


Also attending the conference was PhD student Kai Zeng (also pictured). “It was fun to see what other people are doing and gain a sense of the way they are doing research” Kai said. “It broadened my perspectives by seeing some big names and listening to their interesting talks. Networking was also one of the gains; making friends with others who are either PhD students or working as a research fellow in the field of chemical engineering.”

Likewise, Professor Zhang commented that the Chemeca conference was an excellent channel for networking for researchers in the profession. Professor Hardin considered it was the most successful event ever and the plenary speakers were fascinating.


Papers presented by UWA chemical engineering and Centre for Energy included:

  • Keynote speech “How Far and How Fast Can Bioenergy Travel?” by Dongke Zhang
  • “Preparation and rheology of biochar, lignite char and coal slurry fuels” by Yee-Kwong Leong on behalf of R. Chen, M. Wilson, Y.K. Leong, P. Bryant, H. Yang and D.K. Zhang
  • “A fundamental study of a combined coal gasification and methane reforming process” by Dongke Zhang on behalf of Jinhu Wu, Tao He, Zhiqiang Sun and Zexi Xu,Dongke Zhang
  • “Ultrasound in Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass” by Madeleine Bussemaker and Dongke Zhang
  • “The promises and challenges of direct carbon fuel cells” by Kai Zeng and Dongke Zhang
  • ‘Formation of Carbonaceous Spheres by Hydrothermal Dehydration of Fructose” by Yinong Liu on behalf of Mu Zhang, Hong Yang, Yinong Liu, Xudong Sun, and Dongke Zhang
  • “A kinetic study of hydrogen evolution on Ni-based electrodes in alkaline water electrolysis” by Kai Zeng and Dongke Zhang
  • “Options for value-added utilisation of Australian LNG in China” by Dongke Zhang on behalf of Xiuhui Li, Jo Voola and Dongke Zhang
  • “The Effects of Pressure and NOx in the Partial Oxidation of Methane to Form Methanol” by Yii Leng Chan, John H. Bromly, Gia H. Pham, Dongke Zhang

Media references

W/Prof Dongke Zhang (Director, UWA Centre for Energy) (+61 8) 6488 7600

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