HILT CRC Research Showcase: Program 1 – Process Technologies
WEBINAR FOR HILT CRC PARTNERS
HILT CRC’s Research Showcases offer a chance to update on progress and achievements for selected projects mid-way between our annual conferences.
Join CEO Jenny Selway and Research Director Prof. Gus Nathan to hear about how our research to de-risk and accelerate the decarbonisation of heavy industry is going and where it’s heading.
Program 1 speakers and projects
- Dr Woei Saw, University of Adelaide
- Prof. Geoff Brooks, Swinburne University of Technology
- Dr Shabnam Sabah, Swinburne University of Technology
- Prof. Hongwei Wu, Curtin University
Project presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with the project research leaders and:
- Dian Olwagen, Grange Resources and Program 1 Industry Chair
- Dr Andrew Beath and Adrien Guiraud, CSIRO – Program 1 Co-Research Leads
- Brian McDonald, Roy Hill Technical Development Director, HILT CRC Steering Committee Chair, and RP1.014 industry advisor
- Seb van Dorp, Senior Business Development Manager, Sustainable Processing, Calix, and RP1.015 industry advisor
- Dr Zheshi Jin, Principal Expert – Energy Technology, GFG Alliance, and and RP1.017 industry advisor.
NOTE: This webinar is exclusive to employees of HILT CRC Partner organisations.
AGENDA
SPEAKERS
Geoff Brooks, Professor of Engineering Swinburne University of Technology
Professor Geoff Brooks has published over 250 papers on fundamentals aspects of iron and steelmaking, has been invited to speak at many leading Universities around the world and has worked closely with steel companies in Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently the Joint Swinburne/CSIRO Professor of Sustainable Mineral Processing.
Geoff has been previously an Associate Professor at McMaster University in Canada and a Senior Lecturer at University of Wollongong. In 2013, Geoff was awarded the prestigious John Elliott Lectureship Award by the AIST. He was also awarded the 2018 EPD Distinguished Lecturer by the TMS and the 2023 Bessemer Medal by the IOM3. He is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Hongwei Wu, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University
Prof Hongwei Wu received his Bachelor and Master of Engineering in Thermal Power Engineering, from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He then pursued his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Newcastle, Australia. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Monash University, Australia, Prof Wu was appointed as a junior lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Curtin University, Australia, in August 2002. He was then promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006 and Associate Professor in 2008. In January 2010, he was made a full professor of chemical engineering at Curtin University.
Prof Wu won the 2010 Curtin Commercial Innovation Award and 2011 Western Australia Innovator of the Year Woodside Encouragement Award. He was also the recipient of the inaugural 2018 Curtin Awards for Excellence in Higher Degree by Research Supervision. He is a fellow of the Combustion Institute (2019).
After serving as Associate Editor (2008-2019), Prof Wu has was in January 2020 appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of Energy & Fuels by the American Chemical Society.
Prof Wu’s research interests include: fuel science and engineering; production of green chemicals from biomass; Bioenergy science and engineering; thermochemical processing or co-processing of fuels; biochar production, tuning, chacterisation and applications; transformation of mineral matter in fuels; hydrogen production from solid fuels; solar-thermochemical processing; safety, loss prevention and risk management in industrial processes; and metallurgical reductants including coal, biomass charcoal, methane and hydrogen.
Dr Woei Saw, The University of Adelaide
Dr Woei Saw is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Adelaide. He has demonstrated a good track record in the development and demonstration of novel technology in the decarbonisation of high-temperature industrial processes. He has developed a patent on net-zero steam alumina calcination, which allows steam generated from the alumina calcination process to be recovered and utilised in the bauxite digestion within the Bayer process.
Saw has research and hands on experience in designing and operating pilot scale systems, and expertise relevant to thermal conversion technologies. He has previously been involved in concentrated solar thermal (CST) research projects funded by ARENA and co-led the development of process integration (including techno-economic assessment) of CST plant and high-temperature storage into alumina calcination process and contributed to scaling up of and lab-scale demonstration of The University of Adelaide solar expanding vortex receiver (SEVR). Furthermore, he is working towards a transformation of agricultural waste through the development of technologies to produce value-adding energy co-products.
Dr Shabnam Sabah, Postdoctoral Research Engineer (Green Steel Alliance), Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Shabnam Sabah is a Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Swinburne University of Technology. She has worked on several HILT CRC projects, including ‘Prevention of sticking in H2 fluidised bed DRI production’, ‘Impact of hydrogen DRI on melting in an electric Furnace’, ‘Hydrogen Ironmaking: fluidised bed H₂DRI with Australian focus’, and ‘Testing of Australian Iron Ores in a hydrogen direct flash smelting process’. Dr Sabah completed her PhD on splashing behaviour of Basic Oxygen Furnace at Swinburne. She worked in the process industry after finishing her Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Jenny Selway, CEO, HILT CRC
Jenny has over 20 years’ experience as an engineer and non-executive director, with expertise in decarbonisation and the energy transition. Jenny is currently the CEO of HILT CRC. Prior to this, she worked across the energy industry at AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, where she focused on increasing renewable penetration in the Victorian transmission network, and at ExxonMobil, specialising in international joint venture and asset management. She is currently a member of the Australian Government’s Industrial Decarbonisation and Green Metals Advisory Panel and a non-executive director at Gippsland Water.
Originally graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Science, Jenny is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of Engineers Australia. She has completed an Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School and postgraduate studies into Climate Change Policy at the Australian National University.
Gus Nathan, Professor in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Adelaide and Research Director, HILT CRC
Prof. Gus Nathan is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide, a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Combustion Institute and Engineers Australia, a recipient of a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council and an ATSE KH Sutherland medallist. He was the bid leader for and is now the Research Director of HILT CRC. This builds on his leadership of an ARENA-funded program to develop technology with strong potential to provide energy to the Bayer alumina process with concentrated solar thermal heat in partnership with Alcoa and Hatch, together with his co-leadership of program to develop innovative hydrogen production technologies within the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre.
Gus has led the development of six technology platforms, three of which are in ongoing commercial use and include the flame for Sydney Olympic Relay Torch, while three are currently being upscaled to decarbonise heavy industry. Gus has published more than 300 papers in international journals, 250 in peer reviewed conferences, 50 commissioned reports and 13 patents. He is also the founding chair of the High Temperature Minerals Processing (HiTeMP) Forum and co-founder of the Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) forums, both of which attract some 170 delegates from more than 13 countries, drawn equally from industry, research and government agencies. He is also a joint founder of the international ISF Workshop for the Measurement and Computation of Reacting Flows With Carbon Nanoparticles, which engages some 100 researchers from around the world and is aligned with his own speciality in optical diagnostic methods to de-risk emerging technologies in hydrogen production and heavy industrial processes.
Adrien Guiraud, Minerals Processing Lead, CSIRO, and Process Technologies Program Co-Research Lead, HILT CRC
Adrien Guiraud is a process engineer with experience in minerals processing, metal production and decarbonisation of heavy industries. He specialises in translating research into practical outcomes for industry, by leading networks of multidisciplinary teams from world-class research and technology providers to deliver process optimisation and innovative technology development projects, with a focus on safety, productivity improvement, energy savings, and reducing industrial wastes and emissions across the value chain.
Adrien’s expertise covers a broad range of projects across multiple commodities, including: dry granulation and heat recovery from metallurgical slags; production and use of metallurgical-grade biochar in ironmaking; mass and energy balance modelling of green steel processing routes; microwave processing of copper ores (including ore sorting and pre-comminution); and novel energy efficiency aluminium reduction cell technologies (including sidewall heat recovery and high amperage/low energy designs).
Dr Andrew Beath, Research Engineer, CSIRO, and Program 1 Co-Research Lead, HILT CRC
Andrew is a principal research engineer and leader of the Solar Thermal Applications team within the CSIRO Energy Technologies research program. His current research areas involve development of process simulation and financial analysis models for solar thermal and hybrid biomass technologies for power generation, chemical production and industrial heat applications. His previous roles in CSIRO have included simulation of coal and gas to liquids processes, modelling of advanced thermal power generation technologies, and development of novel technologies for Greenhouse gas and environmental impact mitigation in mining.
Andrew also has a broad range of prior experience in practical chemical engineering in large-scale power generation and raw sugar processing industries. This includes design and implementation of specialised plant items in industrial applications, covering a wide range of water/wastewater treatment plant, coal utilisation equipment, and raw sugar pans and centrifuges.
Dian Olwagen, Manager, Quality and Process Improvement Grange Resources, and Industry Chair, HILT CRC Program 1
Dian is a qualified Chemical and Metallurgical Engineer, with a career spanning 25 years across both African and Australian industries. He is highly experienced in process optimisation, minerals processing and project delivery. He is currently the Quality and Process Improvement Manager for Grange Resources where he leads a skilled team responsible for monitoring supply chain quality and implementing efficiency improvements. He is also responsible for pioneering decarbonisation projects at the Port Latta Pelletising plant.
Brian McDonald, Technical Development Director, Roy Hill
Brian is a versatile professional with more than 20 years of experience in dynamic, large-scale corporate settings within the iron ore and steelmaking industry. He has a proven ability to set creative sales and marketing strategies, renovate and optimise processes, and implement plans. He has commercialised groundbreaking manufacturing technology (including direct reduced iron / hot-briquetted iron and direct smelting) through R&D, commissioning, operations, marketing and technology transfer.
Brian has extensive international sales and marketing experience spanning nearly 20 years, engaging with customers in China (including a 2-year secondment in Beijing), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India, and working for a US-based company for over 9 years. Able to quickly discern and act on new market trends, and to apply analytics and technical marketing to maximise product value, Brian is a strong leader who draws on a progressive, approachable style to motivate staff and colleagues around common goals.
Seb van Dorp, Senior Business Development Manager, Sustainable Processing, Calix
With over 20 years of experience in the iron ore industry, Seb van Dorp began his career at Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara, where he worked in operational roles before moving to Resource Development. There, he co-developed and executed test work from bench scale to pilot plant scale, providing scale-up expertise for iron ore projects across Australia, the Americas, India and Africa.
In 2010, Seb transitioned to Rio Tinto Iron Ore Sales & Marketing, engaging in customer relations and market development. He played a key role in creating customer techno-commercial segmentation matrices and Customer Relationship Management systems. In 2019, he joined Fortescue Metals Group, contributing to the company’s shift toward sustainable iron making by developing marketing strategies for hydrogen and decarbonisation initiatives.
Seb joined Calix in 2025 after collaborating with the Calix team whilst working on green iron at Fortescue. He is passionate about the transformation of the mining and metals industry and excited to move from the customer side to the technology solution side to help commercialise what he believes is the most promising green iron and steel technology globally.
Dr Zheshi Jin, Principal Expert – Energy Technology, GFG Alliance
Dr Zheshi Jin is Principal Expert – Energy Technology at GFG Alliance in Dubai, UAE. He has previously worked as Steelmaking Operations Leader at InfraBuild Steel, Group Engineering Manager at Southern Steel Group, and Principal R&D Officer at Liberty OneSteel. He completed his PhD at University of Technology Sydney.