Research

The Process Technology Laboratory has conducted vast amounts of its own research, as well as collaborating with other entities on wide range of research based projects.

Current projects

2024-2029, Burden properties and their effects on blast furnace (BF), ARC and Rio Tinto, Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.
2024-2029, Model studies of hydrogen shaft furnace (SF), ARC and Rio Tinto, Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.
2024-2029, Modelling and analysis of electric smelting furnace (ESF), ARC and Rio Tinto, Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.
2024-2029, Development of cyclone control technology, ARC and Rio Tinto, Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.
2024-2029, Development of direct reduction technologies based on fluidized bed (FB) and circulating fluidized bed (CFB), ARC and Rio Tinto, Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.
2024-2029 Research Hub for Smart Design and Control. ARC Research Hub (IH230100010, collaborated with Rio Tinto, Baosteel, Bradken, Longking, JITRI). Kuang - Chief Investigator. Deputy director.
2025-2027, Model studies of new low-carbon gas injection technologies for Blast Furnace (BF) ironmaking, LCM project, Kuang - Chief Investigator
2024-2026, Upcycling of mixed plastics from bioprocessed municipal solid waste, ARC LP (LP230100270, collaborated with ARC ENTO TECH LTD). Kuang - Chief investigator.
2023-2026 Model studies of Australian lump ore applied to blast furnace ironmaking, ARC LP (LP210200903, collaborated with Rio Tinto). Kuang - Lead Chief Investigator.

Past projects

2021-2021 Investigation of flow regimes and transition along pulverized coal (PC) conveying pipelines. BlueScope Steel. Total grant: AU$61K. Kuang - Lead chief investigator.
2020-2022 Assessment of different routes to realise oxygen blast furnace (collaborated with Baosteel). Baosteel. Total grant: AU$400K. Kuang - Chief investigator.
2017-2019 Model studies of three-dimensional distributions within blast furnace for reliable and efficient operations. Baosteel-Australia Joint Research and Development Centre (BA16002). Total grant: AU$400K. Kuang - Lead chief investigator.
2016-2020 Particle-scale modelling of particle-fluid flows in gas and oil extraction. ARC LP (LP160100819, collaborated with Weir Minerals and BePIONEER). Total grant: AU$1.2M. Kuang - Chief Investigator.
2016-2021 Research Hub for Computational Particle Technology. ARC Research Hub (IH140100035, collaborated with JITRI, Longking, Baosteel, and Rio Tinto).Total grant: AU$12M. Kuang - Chief Investigator. Project leader for subprojects of “Integrated BF process model”; “Pneumatic conveying for fly ash”; “Hydrocyclones”. Details can be found in ARC Hub for Computational Particle Technology
2011-2014 Particle-scale study of pneumatic conveying bends (AU$8K in 2011); Micromechanic modelling and analysis of dense-phase pneumatic transport of powders (AU$6K in 2012); A multi-scale study of flow instability within pneumatic and hydraulic conveying systems (AU$5K in 2013); Towards fundamentals underlying separators of nanopore structure (4.9K in 2014), UNSW Faculty Research Grant program. Total grant: AU$25K, Kuang - sole Chief Investigator.
2021-2025 Development and application of digital blast furnace model for low carbon ironmaking processes. The key program of NSFC (the National Natural Science Foundation of China) (52034003). Total grant: CNY 3M (~AU$ 600K). Kuang - Partner Investigator (Monash Suzhou). Rank: 2/7.
2016-2019 Development and application of a particle scale blast furnace model. The key program of JF-NSFC (the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China) (U1560205). Total grant: CNY 3.34M (~AU$ 660K). Kuang - Partner Investigator (Monash Suzhou). Rank: 2/6.
2016-2019 Mesoscopic averaging theory of granular systems: Formulation and application. The key program of MRP-NSFC (The Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China) (91534206). Total grant: CNY 3.6M (~ AU$ 720K). Kuang - Partner Investigator (Monash Suzhou). Rank: 2/7.

Completed Theses

PhD Thesis

Dr Yang Fei: Modeling and simulation of hydrogen-based shaft furnaces
Dr Kailai Chen: Modelling and analyzing effects of raw material properties in ironmaking blast furnaces
Dr Fayuan Huang: CFD-DEM modelling and analysis of particle tribocharging in pneumatic conveying
Dr Qing Ye: Development and application of combined CFD and data-driven models for hydrocyclones
Dr Yancong Liu: Modelling and improving liquid behaviors in an ironmaking BF operated with different burden compositions
Dr Patricio Ignacio Jacobs Capdeville: DEM analysis of energy dissipation in bulk solids handling and transportation processes in the ironmaking industry
Dr Haoyu Wang: Numerical modelling and analysis of particle-fluid flow and wall erosion in centrifugal slurry pump
Dr Noor Ilyana Ismail: CFD-DEM modelling and analysis of sand screen performance in the petroleum industry
Dr Puja Paul: Enhanced integrative bioprocess for efficient separation of biological nanoparticles
Dr Jing Li: Numerical modeling and analysis of hydrogen blast furnace ironmaking process
Dr Lingling Liu: Modelling and optimization of ironmaking blast furnace with an integrated mathematical model
Dr Enzu Zheng: Turbulent coarse-particle non-Newtonian suspension flow
Dr Memeng Zhou: CFD-DEM modelling and analysis of hydraulic conveying
Dr Lulu Jiao: Development and applications of a comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) blast furnace process model
Dr Siddhartha Shrestha: Particle Scale Modelling of Bubble Dynamics in Bubbling Fluidized Beds of Ellipsoids
Dr Zheng Qi: Lattice Boltzmann Investigation On Non-Newtonian Fluid-particle Systems
Dr Zhen Miao: Modelling And Analyze Of Pulverized Coal In Various Pipelines
Dr Hui Zhu: Computational Study of Particle-Fluid Flow through Microchannels
Dr Zhaoyang Li: Modelling and Analysis of Ironmaking Blast Furnace (BF) for Process Efficiency Improvement
Dr Li Ji: Modelling the Multiphase Flow in Hydrocyclones
Dr Maryam Ghodrat: Computational modelling and analysis of the flow and performance in hydrocyclones
Dr Ke Li: CFD-DEM Simulation of Particle-fluid Flows

Master Thesis

Mr Zhaoyang Li: Modelling and analysis of ironmaking blast furnace (BF) for energy efficiency improvement
Mr Zheng Qi: CFD modelling and analysis of the multiphase flow and performance of dense medium cyclone: effects of geometry and operating conditions
Mr Yecheng Tang
Mr Zhi Quan

Models/codes	Key features
CFD-DEM models (unresolved)	Two versions: In-house codes, OpenFOAM-LIGGGHTS-based in-house codes Solve particle-fluid flow (including free surfaces), heat and mass transfer Consider spherical and non-spherical particles, particle electrification, and particle melting Applicable to complex geometries with and without moving parts
CFD-DEM models (resolved)	Two versions: In-house codes using LBM (Lattice Boltzmann Method)-DEM, OpenFOAM-LIGGGHTS-based in-house codes using FVM (Finite Volume Method)-DEM Directly solve particle-fluid interactions, including forces and heat transfer
CFD BF process models	Two versions: In-house codes, ANSYS CFX-based model with user-defined codes Solve 2D/3D gas, solid and liquid flows, heat and mass transfer and chemical reactions in BFs Solve below the burden surface of BF using ANSYS CFX, including raceway combustion model and hearth model
CFD-DEM BF process models	Two versions: GPU-based and CPU-based in-house codes Solve 2D/3D gas, solid and liquid flows, heat and mass transfer and chemical reactions in BFs
CFD SF process model	Fluent-based model with user-defined codes Solve flow, heat and mass transfer, and reactions in SF
CFD EAF process model	ANSYS Fluent-based model with user-defined codes Solve flow, heat and mass transfer, reactions, and electro-thermal conversion in EAFs
GPU-based DEM BF burden charging code	In-house codes Solve particle flows
CFD model for hydrocyclones	ANSYS Fluent-based model with user-defined codes Solve gas-liquid-particle flows in hydrocyclones
AI models for hydrocyclones and BFs	In-house Python codes based on TensorFlow Use for prediction and optimisation