Graham Nathan

Professor Graham Nathan

Professor

School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Professor G.J. 'Gus' Nathan is Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and of the Combustion Institute, an ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Awardee (Fellowship) and founding director of The University of Adelaide’s Centre for Energy Technology, who is listed in the top 2% of scientists world-wide both by Elsevier and Stanford University. Gus was bid leader for, and is now Research Director of, the $215m Heavy Industry, Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre, Node Leader in Added Value program addressing solar fuels in the $82m Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative and led the $14m ARENA funded program in partnership with Alcoa and Hatch to develop technology that targeted 45% reduction in CO2 emissions from the Bayer Alumina process with solar thermal hybrids. He is also a founding chair of the High Temperature Minerals Processing, HiTeMP Forum, co-founder of Hydrogen Production Technologies, HyPT, Forum and joint founder of the International Workshop on the measurement and computation of reacting flows with carbon nanoparticles, the ISF Workshop.

Gus was also principal leader of the Chief Design Team for the award winning fuel and combustion system for the Sydney Olympic Relay Torch and was co-inventor of the patented combustor that was subsequently also used in the torch and Stadium flame for the Athens Games. He has also jointly led the development of low NOx “Gyrotherm” burner in ongoing commercial use by partner FCT Combustion in cement, lime, alumina and iron-pellet kilns and currently works in a series of low-carbon technologies in partnership with companies including Alcoa, Calix and Hatch.

Professor Nathan applies leading research methods spanning laser diagnostics to pilot-scale investigations to support the development of novel clean energy technologies, with a focus on net-zero heavy industrial processes with hydrogen as a key enabler. He specialises in high temperature processes and reactors involving combustion, concentrated solar thermal and electrification, together with their hybrids. He has published some 300 publications in leading international journals 200 papers in peer-review conferences, 17 patents and 50 commissioned reports to companies including Rio Tinto, LKAB, Adelaide Brighton and BHP. He has given more than 80 invited presentations on clean energy technology.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Investigation of particle size and flow parameters in turbulent particle-laden flows Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mit Piyush Bakhai
    2024 Co-Supervisor Novel methods utilising heavy industry waste for carbon sequestration, metal recovery and value-added products Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Oliver James Beecroft
    2024 Co-Supervisor Integrated Surface Facilities and Fluid Flow Modelling for Underground Hydrogen Storage Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mostafa Montazeri
    2023 Principal Supervisor Decarbonisation of heavy industrial process Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Henry Lam
    2023 Co-Supervisor Calcination of clay as a supplementary cementitious material Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Nikhil Kirti
    2022 Co-Supervisor Assessment of the effect of steam on alumina calcination Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Siyun Ning
    2022 Co-Supervisor Thermal Performance of the Solar Expanding Vortex Receiver (SEVR) with a Buffer Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Mr Gangyisen Lu
    2022 Co-Supervisor Mechanics of Underground Hydrogen Storage System Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Chee Min Leong
    2022 Co-Supervisor Thermal pre-treatment of low grade ores Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Yuecheng Lin
    2019 Principal Supervisor Heat and Mass Transport in Particle-Laden Flows Under Conditions of Solar Receiver Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xiaopeng Bi
    2019 Principal Supervisor Hydrogen production through pyrolysis of methane using a liquid metal catalyst Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Reza Abdollahi
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Hydrogen Production via Methane Pyrolysis: Modelling of a Single Rising and Pyrolysing Methane Bubble Within a Molten Catalyst Bath Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mrs Nazgol Mehrabian
    2019 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Assessment of a High Temperature Refractory-lined Suspension Flow Solar Particle Receiver Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Muhammad Mujahid Rafique
    2019 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Thermal Performance of the Solar Expanding Vortex Receiver (SEVR) Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Daniel Jin Tung Ang
    2019 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Impacts of Heating Rate and Reaction Atmosphere on the Calcination Process Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Eyad Al Smadi
    2019 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Experimental and Numerical Study of Free-falling Particle-laden Flows Relevant to Solar Particle Receivers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Shipu Han
    2018 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Particle-gas Flows in Open Vortex-based Solar Cavity Receivers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Yining Tang
    2018 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Numerical Study of Particle-laden Flows Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xinchen Zhang
    2017 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Soot Evolution in Turbulent Non-Premixed Bluff-Body Flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Amir Rowhani
    2017 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Development and Application of a Method for Gas-phase Temperature Measurements in Particle-laden Flows Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Elliott William Lewis
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Large Scale Flow Characteristics of Multiple Annular Impinging Jets within a Cylindrical Chamber Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Shen Long
    2015 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Concentrating Solar Power Systems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Jin Han Lim
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Liquid Chemical Looping Gasification Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mohammad Mohsen Sarafraz
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Characterising the Performance of Vortex-Based Solar Thermal Particle Receiver-Reactors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dominic Michael Walldorf Davis
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Application of Chemical Looping for Solar Thermal Energy Storage Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Mahyar Silakhori
    2014 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Soot evolution in acoustically forced laminar non-premixed jet flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Kae Ken Foo
    2014 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Development and Application of Methods to Measure Temperatures of Flowing Particles in Suspension Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Kimberley Chare Yiing Kueh
    2014 - 2019 Principal Supervisor The Influence of Wind on the Heat Losses from Solar Cavity Receivers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Leok Lee
    2013 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Study on Configuration and Operation Strategies of Solar Aided Power Generation Plant Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jiyun Qin
    2013 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Mitigating Particle Deposition on the Glass Window of a Fluidised Bed Solar Receiver Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Md Shahabuddin Ahmmad
    2013 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Application of Rotating Fluidized Bed to Solar Gasification Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Zhao Joe Lu
    2012 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Simulating High Flux Solar Radiation and Assessing its Influence on a Sooty Flame Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Xue Dong
    2012 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Development and Application of Planar Laser Thermometry in Sooting Flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dahe Gu
    2012 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Assessment of Fischer-Tropsch Liquid Fuels Production via Solar Hybridized Dual Fluidized Bed Gasification of Solid Fuels Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Peijun Guo
    2012 - 2016 Co-Supervisor MILD Combustion of Solid Fuels Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Manab Saha
    2011 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Numerical Study of Precessing Jet Flow Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Xiao Chen
    2011 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Application of Concentrated Solar Radiation to Chemical Looping Combustion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Mehdi Jafarian
    2010 - 2013 Co-Supervisor A technical and economic assessment of geothermal aided power generation Master of Engineering Science Master Full Time Mr Jiyun Qin
    2010 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Lowering the Barriers to Developing Thermal Renewable Energy Technologies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ashok Athreya Kaniyal
    2010 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Parametric Study of Soot in Turbulent Non-Premixed Jet Flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Saleh Mahmoud
    2008 - 2008 Principal Supervisor Mass Loading and Stokes Number Effects in Steady and Unsteady Particle-laden Jets Master of Engineering Science Master Full Time Mr Richard Foreman
    2007 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Optical Diagnostics of Metals in High Temperature Environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Li-Jen Hsu
    2007 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Development of Instantaneous Temperature Imaging in Sooty Flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Shaun Chan
    2005 - 2009 Principal Supervisor Assessment of the Temporal Release of Atomic Sodium During a Burning Black Liquor Droplet Using Quantitative Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Woei Saw
    2005 - 2010 Co-Supervisor Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Parallel Jet MILD Combustion Burner System in a Laboratory-Scale Furnace Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr George Szego
    2005 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Aerodynamics of Fibrous Particles Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Guo Qi
    2004 - 2009 Principal Supervisor Study of Large-Scale Coherent Structures in the Near Field and Transition Regions of a Mechanically Oscillated Planar Jet Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Dr Michael Riese
    2004 - 2009 Principal Supervisor The Effect of Density on the Near Field of a naturally Occurring Oscillating Jet Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Grant England
    2004 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Quantitative in-situ Measurements of Sodium Release During the Combustion of Brown Coal using Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time APrf Philip van Eyk
    2003 - 2007 Co-Supervisor Physical Modelling of Mixing Between Rectangular Jets Present in Tangentially Fired Brown Coal Boilers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Alessio Scarsella
    2002 - 2010 Co-Supervisor Sooting Behaviour of Turbulent Non Pre-Mixed Jet Flames Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Nader Qamar
    2002 - 2009 Principal Supervisor Study Of A Naturally Oscillating Triangular-Jet Flow Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Soon Lee
    2002 - 2009 Principal Supervisor The Influence of Jet Precession on Particle Distributions Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Cristian Birzer
    2002 - 2010 Principal Supervisor Investigating the Use of Concentrated Solar Energy to Thermally Decompose Limestone Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Richard Craig
    2001 - 2005 Principal Supervisor Experimental Investigations of the Influence of Reynolds Number and Boundary Conditions on a Plane Air Jet Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ravinesh Deo
    1999 - 2004 Principal Supervisor The flow within and in the near external field of a fluidic precessing jet nozzle Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Chong Wong
    1999 - 2003 Co-Supervisor A Mie Scattering Investigation of the Zones of Soot Formation in Precessing Jet Flames Master of Engineering Science Master Full Time Ms Lilia Stamatova
    1997 - 2004 Co-Supervisor Planar Laser Polarisation Spectroscopy Imaging in Combustion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Julie-Ann Reppel
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83135822
  • Email: graham.nathan@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134367
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Engineering South, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Mechanical Engineering

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