ALAN CHAFFEE, PhD, FAIE, FRACI, FRSC

Professor

School of Chemistry
17 Rainforest Walk, Clayton Campus
Monash University, Vic 3800
Australia
Tel: +61 3 9905 4626
Email: alan.chaffee@monash.edu
http://www.monash.edu/science/schools/chemistry/our-people/staff/chaffee

Qualifications - Formal:
Ph D, Chemistry, University of Melbourne (1981)
Thesis title: 'The Organic Geochemistry of Australian Coals'
B Sc (Hons), Chemistry, University of Melbourne (1977)
Thesis title: 'Sytheses of Phenyphenalenones'
Graduate Certificate of Higher Education (GCHE), Monash University (2001)

CURRENT APPOINTMENT:
Monash University, School of Chemistry as:
Professor (from 2010, Associate Professor from 2006, Senior Lecturer from July 1998)
BCIA Research Leadership Professorial Fellow (2010-2015)
Associate Head of School (Education) (2007, 2009-2011)
Coal Science Lecturer, CRC for Clean Power from Lignite (July 1998 to June 2006)
Manager, Education Program, CRC for Clean Power from Lignite (February 1999 to June 2006)
Key Researcher, CRC for Clean Power from Lignite (July 1998 to June 2006)
Key Researcher, Centre for Green Chemistry (Jan 2000-2010)
Key Researcher, CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (July 2003-2015)

Research area
 Areas of specialisation include: coal analysis, coal dewatering and beneficiation, fossil fuel
liquefaction, biomass conversion, waste water analysis (organics), adsorbent development, new
materials for gas separation and storage, heterogeneous catalysis for energy conversion processes,
organic geochemistry, energy storage and transformation and molecular modelling in support of
the preceding topics.

Current Research Activities:

 Synthesis and evaluation of novel materials for gas adsorption and separation, focusing on CO 2
separation from flue gas and O2 separation from air. Principal focus is on materials that can be used
in VSA. PSA, ESA or TSA processes.
 Heterogeneous catalysis in fuel processing - CO2 conversion over nanostructured mixed metal
catalysts and novel metal organic framework materials (MOFs), selective oxidation reactions within
metal containing mesoporous solids.
 Tailored carbons for hydrogen storage, CO2 capture, water treatment and other applications.
 Spontaneous combustion of coal and dewatered coal products
 Solubilisation, liquefaction and transformation of brown coal into higher value products
 Alternative products from low rank coal – particularly specialty adsorbents (including monolithic
forms), bitumens, coke-substitutes, etc.
 Chemistry of coal-water interactions and the development of improved coal dewatering processes

Updated: Mar 2019 1

  Characterisation and remediation of waste water from coal dewatering processes and from wood
pulping processes.
 Organic geochemical processes in coal formation.
 Conversion of biomass and fossil hydrocarbons to liquid fuels, especially aviation fuel.
 Molecular simulation of mixed gas adsorption behaviour on both real and novel materials.
 Molecular dynamics modelling of physical and chemical interactions in confined spaces.

Publications:
More than 300 published papers, >100 restricted (confidential) reports, >225 conference papers and
13 patents.
H-index = 34 (Scopus)

Updated: Mar 2019 2