
Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (The University of Melbourne)
Hakan has over 18 years professional experience in a variety of organisations both in government and private sectors, including 8 years of research and consulting experience in the sugar industry. Since joining the Bio-processing group at the Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities (CTCB), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Hakan’s main focus is in the area of colloidal and solution chemistry in the field of Separation Technologies. He has acquired extensive knowledge and experience in process engineering systems and in the delivery of equipment and process designs which require deliverables such as Process Flow Diagrams, Heat and Mass Balances, Process and Instrumentation Diagrams, equipment selection and equipment layout. Hakan has designed sedimentation and flotation clarifiers as well as retrofits to older designs for installations in sugar mills and refineries in Australia, and around the world in countries such as India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Myanmar, and several South American countries. In addition, he has been extensively involved in the development of new clarifier designs for the sugar industry. Hakan also trains sugar technologists and supervisors in the sugar manufacturing industry in the area of clarification and mud filtration.
Projects (Chief investigator)
Projects
- Assess operations at each Australian factory to identify opportunities for improvement
- Australian sugar industry training
- Combined Economic and Environmental Evaluations of Practice Adjustments (CEEEPA) in Sugarcane Growing
- Developing sweet sorghum varieties for biorefinery applications
- Evaluate the operational performance and industry application for the final evaporator design at Victoria Mill
- Technical and Financial assessment of natural flocculant production from Australian bagasse biomass
- Use of a purge sensor to improve performance and reduce supervision of batch centrifugals
- Whole of meat supply chain waste mapping and interventions – Phase 1
Additional information
Professional Experience:
- 2014 to present Research Fellow, CTCB - Bioprocessing, Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2007 to 2014 Research Fellow, Sugar Research and Innovation, Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2006 to 2007 Shift Superintendent at Harwood Refinery & Mill, NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative.
- 2003 to 2006 Process Improvement Co-ordinator, SDS Beverages Food and Wine, PTY LTD.
- 1995 to 1997 Data Capture Officer, Lower Murray Water, VIC
- 1993 to 1995Engineering Assistant, Wentworth Shire Council, NSW.
- 1989 Junior Process Engineer, CHEMPLEX AUSTRALIA in Melbourne.
- Rainey, T., O'Hara, I., Mann, A., Bakir, H. & Plaza, F. (2013). Effect of depithing on the safety and environmental aspects of bagasse stockpiling. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 91(5), 378–385. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/57892
- Rainey, T., Mann, A., Bakir, H. & O'Hara, I. (2013). A preliminary study into the environmental and economic consequences of a sugar factory depithing operation. International Sugar Journal, 115(1372), 272–278. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/69070
- Thai, C., Bakir, H. & Doherty, W. (2012). Insights to the clarification of sugar cane juice expressed from sugar cane stalk and trash. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 60(11), 2916–2923. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50398
- Rainey, T., Mann, A., Bakir, H. & O'Hara, I. (2012). A preliminary study into the environmental and economic consequences of a sugar factory depithing operation. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 508–519. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50738
- Moller, D., Broadfoot, R., Bell, S. & Bakir, H. (2010). Whole crop processing at Broadwater Mill: Impacts on process operations. Proceedings of the 2010 Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 573–587. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/80629
- Title
- Advanced Computer Simulation of Sugar Factories - SysCAD (3874)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT040
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Mass Balances; Energy Balances; Process Simulation; Computer Simulation; Process Flowsheet
- Title
- Implement Supervisory/Advisory Control of Pan and Fugal Stations (3875)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT038
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Supervisory Control; Fuzzy Logic; Expert Systems; Process Models; Forecasting
- Title
- Reducing the Economic and Environmental Risks of Large Scale Bagasse Storage Through Depithing
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT039
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Bagasse; Dust; Pith; Combustion; Depiting
- Title
- Biomass Characterisation Facility for Extended Stockpile Model Accuracy and Capability (3951/3952)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT049
- Start year
- 2011
- Keywords
- Biomass; Combustion; Model; Spontaneous; Storage
- Title
- Evaluate Brazilian mud filtration technology to increase the profitability and environmental performance of Australian factories (3959/3960)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT048
- Start year
- 2011
- Keywords
- Cake Moisture; Mud Filtration; Retention; Rotary Vacuum Filtration; Technopulp
- Title
- Evaluation of mud filtrate clarification options to improve factory performance (3956)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT046
- Start year
- 2011
- Keywords
- Clarification; Filtrate; Mud Recycle
- Title
- Improving the Performance and Specification of Evaporator Stations (3948/3949 - QUT050)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT050
- Start year
- 2011
- Keywords
- Heat Transfer Coefficients; Juice Evaporation; Robert Evaporators
- Title
- Determination of factory processing procedures to better manage sugar quality issues(4045)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT057
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Clarification; Crystallisation; Sugar Manufacturing; Sugar Quality
- Title
- Flocculation and Sedimentation of Slow Settling Mud and Mud Cake Conditioning(4055)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT056
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Clarification; Clays; Flocculation; Juice; Sugar Manufacture