Dr Ken Chiang

A 3 year PhD scholarship is now available to support a candidate who is interested to work in the area of innovative catalyst technologies, the production of greener fuels and chemicals, hydrogen production technologies, or CO2 conversion and utilisation. Please contact Dr Chiang for more details.

Teaching activities

• PROC2080 Process Thermodynamics
• PROC2083 Reaction Engineering
• PROC2088 Process Systems Design
• PROC2091 Process Systems Integration
• PROC1025 Design Project

Research interests

Dr. Chiang’s background includes a solid 14 year experience in academic and industrial research.  Throughout his research career, he has succeeded in securing government and industry funding to develop new research.  His early research career work focused on the applications of nanostructured photocatalysts for water and air purification, and solar-to-hydrogen process.  During his Research Team Leader appointment at CSIRO, Dr. Chiang led a number of industry projects related to the design of industrial catalysts, syngas production and conversion, gas-to-liquid technologies (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, methanol and diemthyl ether productions), greener/synthetic fuel production, hydrogen generation, chemical production, and CO₂ utilisation.  His research Interests cover:

• Innovative catalyst technologies and sustainable catalytic processes
• New reactor concepts that enable process intensification
• The production of greener fuels and chemicals
• Low emission hydrogen production technologies
• CO₂ conversion and utilisation
• Advanced oxidation processes for water and air purification
• Solar-to-chemical/fuel technologies

Researcher identifiers

• ResearcherID
• ORCID

Awards

• 2014: Julius Career Award
• 2011: Nominee for the ENI 2011 Award
• 2010: CSIRO Health and Safety Medal
• 2007: Nominee for the NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Awards

Patents

• LEE, Chee, Chow; CHIANG, Ken, Kin, Kwong; LIM, Tuti, Mariana; TSEN, Tze, Shiong, Leslie; “Method and Apparatus for the Degradation of Halogenated Compounds”, PCT/SG2004/000116, 30 April 2004.
• Yamaguchi, Doki; Chiang, Ken; Tang, Liangguang; Enhanced Syngas Production from Use of Oxygen Storage Materials (Australian provisional application), February 2016.

Grants

• Hybrid photocatalytic nanomaterials for water purification. Funded by ARC Discovery (from 2018-2020)
• Mini DME: A custom designed solution to bring stranded gas to the energy markets. Funded by Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (2013-2015)
• Functionalised Hierarchical Nanocomposites for Synthetic and Renewable Fuels Production. Funded by Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (2012-2014)
• Nanostructured Catalyst for synthetic fuel production, funded by an American multinational energy corporation (2011-2013)
• An alternative low emission route for hydrogen production, funded by an American multinational energy corporation (2008-2010)
  

More information

Research opportunities: Research projects are available for candidates who are interested to pursue a Masters degree (by research) or PhD degree.  RMIT has a number of scholarship schemes for those who are interested to pursue higher degree by research studies. 

• RMIT scholarships
• Scholarships for international students

Interested candidates are encourage to contact Dr. Chiang by email or by phone (+61 3 9925 2050) for further information. 

• 2002: PhD, The University of New South Wales, Australia
• 1997: BE (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Australia

Employment history

• 2016 - Present: Senior Lecturer – RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
• 2007 - 2016: Team Leader/Senior Research Scientist, Energy, CSIRO, Australia.
• 2003 - 2007: Research Fellow/Assistant Lecturer – ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, UNSW, Australia
• 2001 - 2003: Research Scientist, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• 2001 - 2001: Research Associate – Centre for Particle and Catalyst Technologies, School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry, UNSW, Australia.
• 1995 - 1996: Process Engineer, BHP Slab and Plate Product Division, Port Kembla, NSW Australia
• 1993 - 1994: Process Engineer, ICI Botany, Sydney NSW Australia

Professional appointments / service

• Guest Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University
• Editorial Board member of Advances in Energy Research
• Peer reviewer for the Australian Research Council
• International Assessor, Small Business Innovation Research, Department of Agriculture, USA
• International Assessor, Environment & Water Industry Development Council, Singapore
• Reviewer for journals including Appl. Catal. A & B, J. Phys. Chem., Environ. Sci. Technol.,  Catal. Comm., J. Nanoparticle Res., J. Membr. Sci., Chem. Eng. J., Electrochim. Acta, Int. J. Photoenergy, Environ. Technol., J. Adv. Ox. Technol., J. Hazard. Mater., Thin Solid Thims, Catal. Today, Particuology, Catal. Sci. Technol., Fuel. Proc. Technol., Inter. J. Hydro. Energy, Proc. Safety, Env. Protect., React. Kinet. Catal. Lett., J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng., Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res.

Industry engagement

Dr. Chiang’s background includes a solid 14 year experience in academic and industrial research.  Throughout his research career, he had engaged multinational companies, SMEs and government agencies to develop new research.  His work with industry has covered catalyst development, chemical production and synthetic fuels synthesis from indigenous feedstocks.

Affiliations and professional memberships

• Member, CO₂Chem Network
• AIChE
  

Media

• Cheap and clean: Australian company creates hydrogen with near-zero emissions, The Guardian, 22 July 2016.
• Nanotechnology innovation in biofuels production, The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2016.

Invited book chapters

• Doki Yamaguchi, Liangguang Tang, Nick Burke, Ken Chiang, Lucas Rye, Trevor Hadley, Seng Lim, Small Scale Hydrogen Production from Metal-Metal Oxide Redox Cycles, in Hydrogen Energy, InTech (2012) pp.31-54 [ISBN: 980-953-307-277-2]
• Yunxia Yang, Ken Chiang, Nick Burke, Structured Carbon Materials for Application as Catalysts and Sorbents for Improved Energy Production, in New Research on Carbon Materials, Nova Science Publishers (2013) pp.47-82 [ISBN: 978-1-62417-187-1]

Selected international journals

(Research h-index: 19)

• Chunxia Zhao, Junshen Li, Wen Chen, Yunxia Yang, Ken Chiang, Nick Burke, Synthesis and electrochemical properties of ordered mesoporous carbon supported well-dispersed cobalt oxide nanoparticles for supercapacitor, Mater. Res. Bull. (2015), 64, 55-60
• Liangguang Tang, Doki Yamaguchi, Ben Leita, Valérie Sage, Nick Burke, Ken Chiang, The effects of oxidation-reduction treatment on the structure and activity of cobalt-based catalysts, Catal. Commun. (2015), 59(10), 166–169
• Chunxia Zhao, Yunxia Yang, Zhangxiong Wu, Matthew Field, Xi-Ya Fang, Nick Burke, Chiang Ken, Synthesis and facile size control of well-dispersed cobalt nanoparticles supported on ordered mesoporous carbon, J. Mater. Chem. A (2014), 2, 19903-19913
• Devaki Nandan, Peta Sreenivasulu, Nagabhatla Viswanadham, Ken Chiang, Jarrod Newnham, Synthesis of carbon embedded MFe2O4 (M = Ni, Zn and Co) nano-particles as efficient hydrogenation catalysts, Dalton Transactions., 43(31), 12077-12084, 2014
• Huamei Duan, Yunxia Yang, Ranjeet Singh, Ken Chiang, Penny Xiao, Jim Patel, David Danaci, Nick Burke, Yuchun Zhai, Paul A. Webley, Mesoporous Carbon-supported Cu/ZnO for Methanol Synthesis from Carbon Dioxide, Aust. J. Chem. (2014), 67(6), 907 – 914
• Doki Yamaguchi, Ken Chiang, Nick Burke, ケミカル・ルーピングの水素・合成ガス製造への応用,  Petrotech (2013), by The Japan Petroleum Institute, 36(10), 767-772. [Invited contribution]
• Yunxia Yang, Liangguang Tang, Ken Chiang, Burke Nick, Nanoporous carbon supported metal particles: their synthesis and characterisation, J. Nanoparticle Res. (2012), 14(8), 1028.
• Trevor D. Hadley, Kok-Seng Lim, José Orellana, Reiner R. Denke, Ken Chiang, Nick R. Burke, The capture of aerosol in a granular moving bed, Chem. Eng. Res. Design J. (2012), 90, 52–62. [Featured in Advances in Engineering]

For a full list of Dr. Chiang’s publications see his ResearcherID profile.

Student supervision and co-supervision

• 10 PhD students
• 2 Master students
• 2 exchange diploma students from Sweden
• Honours Year research students
• 2 industrial trainees