About Us

Our team has a diverse background: Behdad and Elham grew up Iran before moving to Australia to continue their education, receiving PhDs from Australian universities before taking up academic positions at The University of Newcastle. Together they make a dynamic team, and are co-inventors of GRANEX, an emission-free engine that turns heat from low-grade sources such as geothermal and industrial waste heat into electricity. GRANEX has been in commercial operations for several years.

Andrew was born and raised in Newcastle and attended The University of Newcastle where he was a student of Behdad’s. Following a PhD at the University of Sydney and thirteen years in industry advising companies and governments on greenhouse gas emissions, Andrew returned to The University of Newcastle as a senior member of Behdad’s research team and was the instigator of the team’s entry in the competition.

Priscilla is another “home grown” member of the team, and was a student of Behdad’s, both as an undergraduate and a PhD student. Priscilla grew up in Newcastle, but has family in Fiji and frequently visits her mother’s village. Priscilla has first-hand experience of water scarcity through her time in Fiji, during both normal living conditions and following cyclones.

Cheng grew up in China where access to quality drinking water is challenging and water contamination is a critical issue due to pollution of human origin. Completing undergraduate and master’s degrees in China, Cheng became another student of Behdad’s, completing his PhD at The University of Newcastle before becoming a researcher within Behdad’s research team.

Together we’re a team whose innate engineer’s curiosity is driven by our diverse backgrounds. Where some see problems, we see challenges.

ABOUT TEAM LEADER

Professor Moghtaderi is a distinguished researcher and pioneer in the development of innovative energy technologies for both renewable and non-renewable energy sources. He is a remarkable chemical engineer whose outstanding ability and drive through his 21 years academic career has earned him a truly international reputation. His work covers the scholarly research backed by $59 million grant income predominantly from industry, 339 publications (h-index of 33), 35 PhD completions and numerous awards. His work is at the forefront of finding solutions to industry problems of national and international importance and his research has impacted the power generation and mining sectors. He is the inventor of a number of remarkable technologies including: (i) GRANEX heat engine for power generation from low grade sources and industrial waste heat; (ii) GRANSAL, an energy efficient portable desalination technology (in demonstration phase); (iii) VAMCO, a flameless oxidation process for mitigation of fugitive methane emissions from the coal mining industry; (iv) CLAS, a chemical looping process for tonnage production of oxygen with 80% reduction in the energy penalty compared with conventional cryogenic air separation processes and (v) thermochemical processes for grid-scale and residential energy storage.

TEAM MEMBERS

Behdad Moghtaderi, Elham Doroodchi, Andrew Maddocks, Priscilla Tremain, Cheng Zhou