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PhD (Queensland University of Technology), Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (James Cook Uni. of North Qld), Batchelor of Science (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)
Dr Kameron Dunn is a Senior Research Fellow in the QUT Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy (CAB) and has worked within an R&D and consulting environment for over twenty-two years. Dr Dunn is a subject matter expert for sugar milling process modelling and technoeconomic assessments associated with cogeneration and sugar industry product diversification. Dr Dunn’s consultancies typically include biomass utilisation and biofuel scoping studies, technical audits of sugar factories, energy efficiency optimisation, design of process equipment and process modelling.
In 2009, Dr Dunn was awarded an industry PhD scholarship from the Sugar Research Development Cooperation (SRDC) for a thesis titled "Conversion of sugarcane lignin into aromatic products and the fractionation of products for industrial use", which received a QUT 2014 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (Executive Dean’s Commendation Award). In 2016 Dr Dunn was awarded an Advanced Queensland Fellowship by the Queensland State Government to continue an R&D focus on transforming waste products via the thermochemical technologies, hydrothermal liquefaction and pyrolysis, to minimise and transform agricultural, petrochemical derived and sewage waste feedstocks, into value-adding products. The Fellowship project also advanced recovery and fractionation of derived products via supercritical fluid techniques. The research is now used to drive the diversification of renewable biomass (lignin) into biocrudes, chemicals, phenolic resins, nutraceuticals, sugarcane lignin thermoplastics, carbon products (fibre and composites) and ceramic research.
During 2020 Dr Dunn was elected as a Chartered Chemical Engineer from the Institution of Chemical Engineers and received Registered Professional Engineering in Queensland (RPEQ) certification.
In 2021/2022 Dr Dunn is supporting the engineering upgrades at QUT's existing Mackay Biocommodities Pilot Plant Facility, to enhance the facilities capability in biomass processing, fermentation and downstream processing, and to develop the technologies and products in these growth areas that improve upon current capability that support research in synthetic biology, future foods, biomaterials, food and feed supplements, biofuels and biochemicals. In addition, in 2022 Dr Dunn is supporting efforts at QUT to commission, develop and demonstrate mineral processing and refinement capacity at pilot scale at the Redlands Research Facility.
Additional information
Professional Experience:
2017 – present Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, QUT.
2016 – 2020 Advanced Queensland Research Fellow, QUT.
2005 – 2016 Chemical Engineer, Sugar Research and Innovation, QUT.
2000 – 2005 Process Engineer, Sugar Research Institute.
1997–1998 Process Engineer (vocational), Normandy Mt Leyshon Gold Mine.
1996–1997 Process Engineer (vocational), McArthur Mining (subsidiary of MIM).
1995–1996 Chemist (vocational), Environmental Research Institute of Supervising Scientist (ERISS).
Key Experience
- Process design and optimization
- Pilot plant design, construction and commissioning
- Sugar cane processing
- Energy audits and studies
- Cogeneration plant design and factory integration
- Training industry staff
- Technology evaluation
- Product recovery and loss reduction
Major areas of R&D and consultation:
- Heating, multiple effect evaporation and energy utilisation.
- Process modelling (HYSYS, visual basic applications, excel).
- Process design of sugar factories, ethanol distilleries and renewable energy plants.
- Renewable liquid fuel production (gasification, liquefaction and pyrolysis).
- Cogeneration plant design (conventional and gasification).
- Crystallisation.
- Supercritical processes.
- Sugar recovery and loss reduction.
- Hydrothermal liquefaction processing.
- Pyrolysis processing.
- Biomaterial and bioproducts.
- Factory energy audits.
- Plant design:– process piping (valving, pipe and pump sizing), flash tanks, S&T heaters, DC heaters, condensers, evaporators, re–heaters, stirrers, crystallisers and plant design using computation fluid dynamics (CFX).
- Pilot operation– flotation clarification, membranes, evaporators, belt press filters, wet scrubbers, hydrothermal liquefaction, supercritical CO2 fractionation and extraction.
- Type
- Fellowships
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Advance Queensland - Early Career Industry Research Fellowship
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Journal referee for the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Journal referee for the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT)
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Awarded a 2014 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (Executive Dean's Commendation Award)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Journal referee for the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2013
- Details
- Journal referee for the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2012
- Details
- Journal referee for the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2010
- Details
- Journal referee for the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT)
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- SRDC scholarship
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- Journal referee for the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT)
- Ebrahimi, M., Dunn, K., Li, H., Rowlings, D., O'Hara, I. & Zhang, Z. (2022). Effect of hydrothermal treatment on deep dewatering of digested sludge: Further understanding the role of lignocellulosic biomass. Science of the Total Environment, 810. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227236
- Ebrahimi, M., Friedl, J., Vahidi, M., Rowlings, D., Bai, Z., Dunn, K., O'Hara, I. & Zhang, Z. (2022). Effects of hydrochar derived from hydrothermal treatment of sludge and lignocellulose mixtures on soil properties, nitrogen transformation, and greenhouse gases emissions. Chemosphere, 307. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/234475
- Rowlings, D., Bai, Z., Dunn, K., O'Hara, I., Zhang, Z., Ebrahimi, M. & Hassanpour, M. (2022). Effects of lignocellulosic biomass type on nutrient recovery and heavy metal removal from digested sludge by hydrothermal treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 318. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/232969
- Basnayake, A., Hidalgo, J., Villacorta, B., Dunn, K. & Heitzmann, M. (2023). Investigation of ammonium polyphosphate dilution with ground eggshells and lignin through the study of natural fibre composite flammability. Fire and Materials, 47(1), 28–50. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/230260
- Maqbool, W., Dunn, K., Doherty, W., McKenzie, N. & Hobson, P. (2020). Solubility of benzyl alcohol in supercritical carbon dioxide, comparison of literature data and thermodynamic modelling. Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, 151. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/199381
- Maqbool, W., Dunn, K., Doherty, W., McKenzie, N., Cronin, D. & Hobson, P. (2019). Extraction and purification of renewable chemicals from hydrothermal liquefaction bio-oil using supercritical carbon dioxide: A techno-economic evaluation. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 58(13), 5202–5214. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128177
- Cronin, D., Dunn, K., Zhang, X. & Doherty, W. (2017). Relating dicarboxylic acid yield to residual lignin structural features. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 5(12), 11695–11705. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/114286
- Maqbool, W., Hobson, P., Dunn, K. & Doherty, W. (2017). Supercritical carbon dioxide separation of carboxylic acids and phenolics from bio-oil of lignocellulosic origin: Understanding bio-oil compositions, compound solubilities, and their fractionation. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 56(12), 3129–3144. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/105492
- Dunn, K. & Hobson, P. (2016). Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignin. Sugarcane-based biofuels and bioproducts, 165–206. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/103502
- O'Hara, I., Zhang, Z., Rackemann, D., Dunn, K., Hobson, P. & Doherty, W. (2013). Prospects for the development of sugarcane biorefineries. Proceedings of the 28th International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT) Congress, 54–65. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/70882
- Title
- A profitable future for Australian agriculture: Biorefineries for higher-value animal feeds, chemicals, and fuels (RnD4Profit 14-01-044) (4207)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 2015/902
- Start year
- 2016
- Keywords
- Agriculture; Bioproducts; Biorefinery; Diversification; Value Chain
- 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
- Dunder concentration (3758)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT031
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Sugar Process; Supercricatical Fluids; Renewable Fuels
- Title
- The Production of Biofuels and Value added Co-products from the Thermochemical Processing of Sugarcane Bagasse (3836)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- QUT036
- Start year
- 2009
- Keywords
- Thermochemical Processing; Sugarcane Bagasse; Biofuels; Platform Chemicals