Dr Jorge Beltramini

    Adjunct Professor

    Dr Jorge Beltramini, formerly Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at AIBN – University of Queensland until his retirement in 2018, presently is an Adjunct Professor at the Bioprocessing Group at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioeconomy at Queensland University of Technology, Australia with more than 30 years of experience in the fundamental areas of Petroleum Refining Technologies, Solid State Catalysis, Surface Characterization, Material Science, Reactor Design and Modelling. He held academic and industrial appointments in Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Australia. He is a recognized authority in the field of catalysis sciences as testified by the more than 250 scientific and technical papers delivered at international forums and published in international referee Journals.  In 2018 he was awarded a prestigious JSPS Professorial Long-Term Invitational Fellowship to conduct research on Nanopores Hybrid Metal Organic Framework Catalysts for the Direct Activation of Methane at Kumamoto University, Japan. Afterwards, in 2019 he was appointed Distinguishes Professor at the International Research Organization for Advances Science and Technology (IROAST) at Kumamoto University.

    During the last 15 years he had strongly worked on development of new nanoporous siliceous and non-siliceous materials and their functionalization to be used for conversion of biomass to hydrogen, liquid fuels and chemicals as well as on development of new materials as energy storage systems for which he created an intense international research collaborations networks with the National Catalysis Centre at ITT Madras, National Chemical Laboratories in Pune, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, BESU, IIT Roorke and IIT Kharagpur in India, as well as DICP Dalian , Zhenjiang University and the National Bamboo Institute in China and the Institute of Engineering and Chemical Sciences in Singapore, Kumamoto University.   As well as expanded the research network into Europe and South America where frequently presented his work at international forums and act as research consultant.  He also conducted industrial oriented research projects and consultancy work  on areas related with renewable energy with companies such as: Dow Company, Rio Tinto Alcan, Saudi Aramco, Baosteel Baoshan Shanghai, Southern Oil Refinery Australia and Distilled Green Technologies.

    As a result of his continuing pursue of the research goals together with the financial support obtained through industrial and government grants amounting more than AUD 5 million, several exciting new routes have been recently demonstrated that is entirely feasible to convert biomass to fuels and chemicals using heterogeneous catalysts that can control the bond scission of O-H, C-H, C-O and C-C bonds of biomass derived compounds.

    Examples of these technologies include vapor and aqueous phase reforming technologies that results in green hydrogen, catalytic fast pyrolysis that convert agricultural waste into DME and alcohols, selective transformation of lignocellulosic materials into sugars and sugar alcohols and its conversion into valuable chemicals such as furanic compounds, HMF, hydrocarbon fuels, isosorbide, etc and the selective lignin depolymerization into commodity chemicals, resins, plastics and energy storage materials.  As well as study of conversion of glycerol into fine chemical and waste vegetable oil into straight jet and diesel fuels.

    Projects

    • Co-Investigator (CLET project) Proof of Concept Engineering Systems for Catalytic Membrane Reactors in Coal Gasification. 2005 -2007.
    • Project Leader (Saudi Aramco Oil Co, Dhahran Saudi Arabia) Industrial collaborative research project on Membrane-Based Processes for Hydrogen Production and Purification from Oil-Based liquid Petroleum Fuels This is a three phase project as:

    Phase I:   Development of catalytic materials suitable for the conversion and hydrogen separation of oil-based liquid petroleum fuels in a membrane reactor system. 2006 to 2008.

    Phase II:   Development, design, construction and procurement of a catalytic membrane reaction modular unit to produce 150 litres hydrogen/hour from hydrocarbon fuels.  Phase II runs 2009 to 2011.

    Phase III:  Scale design to produce 20m3/hr hydrogen using membrane reactor. 2012 to 2014.

     

    • Project Leader (Australia- India Strategic Research Fund – AISRF- DIISR) with National Research Centre for Catalysis at IIT Madras, Chennai, India on Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates as Renewable Raw Materials to Key Platform Chemicals. 2009 to 2011.
    • Project Leader (NIRAP QLD Gov. with DICP, Dalian, CAS, China). This is one of the 4 NIRAP components on Nanomaterials for Energy Applications.  Project title: Development of Innovative Catalytic Systems for XTL and Hydrogen Production from Biomass. 2012 to 2015.
    • Principal Investigator (Australia-India Strategic Research Fund – DIISR – Targeted Allocation Grant – 4 Australian + 4 Indian Universities), Nanocomposite Materials for Energy Storage Systems, Safety and Economics, working in collaboration with Bengali Engineering and Science University (BESU) and IIT Roorkee, India 2010 to 2012.
    • Project Leader (Sugar Research Development Corporation – SRDC) on Sugar Cane Feedstock into Fuel Additives and Chemical Conversion of Furanic Compounds by Catalytic Processes. 2011 –
    • Project Leader (Australia- India Strategic Research Fund – AISRF- DIISR) with Indian Institute of Chemical technology, Hyderabad, India on Catalytic Conversion of Waste agriculture into DME using flash volatization technique. 2015 to 2017.
    • Project Leader, ARC Linkage Grant with Baosteel – Baoshan, Shanghai, China, on Catalytic Conversion of Waste Blast and Steel Furnaces Gases into Alcohols using Microchannel Reactors. 2015 – 2018.
    • Project Co-Investigator ARC Linkage with the UQ-Dow Centre of Excellency on production of carbon fibers as reinforce material for mobile applications. DOW Chemicals (Australia) 2015 -2017.

    Publications

    • 3 books and 12 book chapters published.
    • >250 refereed journal papers (75% in Q1 Journals) ; over 150 conference papers and 80 technical presentations.
    • Total ISI Citation Counts:  >8500 for journal papers published (2020).
    • Q-Index: 39.52 (last 5 years); H-Index: 36 (2019); RG-score: 38.83.

    Publications last 3 years:

    • Tana, Z. Zhang, J. N. Beltramini, H. Zhu, K. Ostrikov, J. Bartley and W. Doherty, Valorization of native sugarcane bagasse lignin to bio-aromatic esters/monomers via a one pot oxidation–hydrogenation process, Green Chemistry, 21, 861 -873, (2019), (IF = 10.182).
    • Swathi Mukundan, Mohammad A Wahab, Luqman Atanda, Muxina Konarova, and Jorge Beltramini, Highly active and robust Ni-MoS2 supported on mesoporous catalysts: a nano-catalyst for hydrodeoxygenation reactions, RSC Advances, 9, 17194 -17202, (2019), (IF = 3.190)
    • Wanwitoo, J. N. Beltramini, J. Bartley, N. Laosiripojana and W. Doherty, William, Effect of HCOOK/ethanol on Fe/HUSY, Ni/HUSY and Ni– Fe/HUSY catalysts on lignin depolymerisation to benzyl alcohols and bioaromatics, ACS Omega, 4, 16, 16980-16993 (2019) (IF = 3.512).
    • Mukundan, L. Atanda and J. N. Beltramini, Thermocatalytic cleavage of C-C and C-O bonds in model compounds and kraft lignin by NiMoS2/C nanocatalysts, RSC Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 3, 1317 – 1328, (2019), (IF = 6.367).
    • Hirano, J. N. Beltramini, A. Mori, Y. Kim, M. Nakamura and S. Hayami, Microwave-improved catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using graphene oxide hybrid catalysts, RSC Advances, 10, 11727– 11736, (2020) (IF = 3.190).
    • D. Athukoralalage Don, W. Doherty, L. A. Atanda, J. N. Beltramini, L. Moghaddam, D. Rackemann, Heterogeneous Catalytic Conversion of Sugars into 2,5- Furandicarboxylic Acid, Frontiers in Chemistry, 8, 659, (2020), (IF = 5.221).
    • Md Abdul Wahab, J. Joseph, L. Atanda, U. K Sultana, N. Beltramini, K. Ostrikov, G. D. Will, A. P. O’Mullane, A. A Abdala, Nanoconfined Synthesis of Nitrogen-Rich Metal-Free Mesoporous Carbon Nitride Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction, ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3, 2, 1439-1447, (2020) (IF = 6.075)
    • Mukundan, D. C. Boffito, A. Shrotri, L. Atanda, J. N. Beltramini, and G. S. Patience, Thermocatalytic hydrodeoxygenation and depolymerization of waste lignin to oxygenates and biofuels in a continuous flow reactor at atmospheric pressure ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 8, 35, 13195, (2020).(IF = 8.198).
    • Mukundan, R. K. Chowdari and J. Beltramini, External Solvent-Free Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Softwood Lignin to Aromatics over Carbon–ZrO2 Supported Ni/MoS2 Catalysts, Advances Sustainable Systems, 2000243, (2020). (IF = 6.271)
    • K. Wyn, M. Konarova, J. N. Beltramini, G. Perkins and L. Yermán, Self-sustaining smoldering combustion of waste: A review on applications, key parameters and potential resource recovery, Fuel Processing Technology, 205, 106425 (2020). (IF = 7.033).
    • Waqas Aslam , Jorge N. Beltramini, Luqman A. Atanda, Nuno R. Batalha, Tobias U. Schülli and Muxina Konarova,  The catalytic activity of KMoCo carbon spheres for higher alcohols synthesis from syngas, Applied Catalysis A, 605, 117803, (2020). (IF = 5.506).
    • Athukoralalage Don K. Deshan, Lalehvash Moghaddam, Dumindu P. Siriwardena, Ekaterina Strounina, Jorge Beltramini, and William O. S. Doherty, Transforming Cotton Gin Trash to Engineered Functional Carbon Structures, Advances Sustainable System, 2100061, (2021). (IF= 6.271).
    • Wanwitoo Wanmolee, Jorge Norberto Beltramini, John Bartley, Navadol Laosiripojana, William O.S. Doherty, One step liquefaction of hardwood lignin to oligomers soluble in polymerizable solvents, Industrial Crops and Products, 162, 113259, (2021). (IF = 4.244).
    • Athukoralalage Don K. Deshan, Javier Jimenez Forero, John P. Bartley, Chalani Marasinghege, Kyle Tuiatua, Jorge Beltramini, William O.S. Doherty, Structural features of cotton gin trash derived carbon material as a catalyst for the dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, Fuel, 306, 121670, (2021). (IF = 6.609).
    • Tana Tana, Tuyen H.T. Tran, J. Ramirez, J. Strong, I. O’ Hara, Jorge Beltramini, William Doherty and L. Moghaddam. Conversion of pilot plant derived 2G ethanol cellulosic stillage to value-added chemicals, Industrial Crops and Products, 10.1016/j.indcrop.2021.113839, (2021). ( IF= 6.609).
    • Atanda, M. Wahab and J. Beltramini, Recent Progress on Catalyst Development for CO2 Conversion into Value-Added Chemicals by Photo- and Electroreduction, Chapter 14 in Engineering Solutions for CO2 Conversion, Reina, T.R., Odriozola, J.A. and Arellano-Garcia, H. (Editors), Wiley-VCH Publisher, 335, (2021).

    Teaching and RHD Supervision

    During his career, supervised a total of 27 PhD students and 18 Master Students.

    Dr Beltramini always believe that students, at all academic levels, can benefit from the complement of traditional teaching lectures with alternative methods of teaching and other learning activities.  He is always focus on developing an efficient learning cycle for students by frequently providing them with actionable feedback. This can include pre-lecture assignments, student presentations, a guided analysis, case studies and quizzes, among others. These activities are essential to improving student learning and developing students’ problem-solving skills. Particularly engaging large groups of students in learning activities through available technologies, e.g. by enabling them to work simultaneously through online applications such as Active Learn Application or Padlet.