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PhD (University of East London)
Professor Bill Doherty is an industrial chemist and the Theme Leader of the Processing Chemistry Research Group. He is a leading authority in biomass fractionation/pretreatment technologies, hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass to energy and chemicals, fouling of heat exchangers, chemistry of sugar juice clarification, and the development of biodegradable composite materials. His current interests include, thermochemical processing of biomass (including algae and fungi), surface and colloidal chemistry, catalytic lignin valorisation to aromatic chemicals and dicarboxylic acids, design of heterogeneous catalysts for the upgrading of biomass derived bio-oils to fuels, and scale control and removal. Over the last 10 years, Prof Doherty has attracted over $15 M from industry partners and Australian Research Council. He has over 150 publications, commission research, reviews and book chapters. Prof Doherty has 4 patents of which the most successful is the glycerol-acid pretreatment of biomass. He has reviewed Australian Research Council Discovery grants, USDA, SRDC and UNSW grant proposals Prof Doherty has been associated with the Australian Sugarcane Industry for the past 20 years. He has been generating original research ideas, planning and executing R&D and consulting projects, and training factory staff which have contributed to progressive development of the sugar industry. As a consequence of Prof Doherty’s work in sugar manufacture, in 2010 obtained Sugar Research Development Corporation Top Award for outstanding achievement in innovation in Research and Development in sugar manufacturing. In the past 10 years, 7 of his postgraduate students have received Postgraduate Sugar Research Awards by the Australian Society of Sugarcane Technologist (ASSCT). In 2015, ASSCT Awarded Prof Doherty the Presidential Medal for Best Research Paper on Milling Technology. Prof Doherty is currently leading a major Grand challenge in biomass utilisation funded by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) to develop technologies for economically sustainable bio-based energy. Prof Doherty was one of the Project Leaders in the CRC Sugar Industry Innovation for Biotechnology and won the Chairman’s award (2008) for the best CRC SIIB patent for initiating the ground-breaking work on water-based lignin coatings. Prof Doherty was awarded in 2013 a certificate by QUT in recognition for supervising an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis.Additional information
Professional Experience:
- 2005 to Current Principal Research Fellow, Team Leader (Processing Chemistry), Sugar Research and Innovation, Centre for Tropical Crops and Biotechnology, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2002 – 2005 Principal Research Fellow (Adjunct), Molecular Sciences James Cook University
- 2000 – 2005 Principal Scientist, Sugar Research Institute, Mackay
- 1996 – 2000 Senior Scientist, Sugar Research Institute, Mackay
- 1991 – 1996 Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, James Cook University
- 1989 – 1991 Senior Lecturer, NDA, Kaduna, Nigeria
- 1985 – 1989 Lecturer, NDA, Kaduna, Nigeria
- 1985 – 1985 Senior Research Officer, Rubber Research Institute, Nigeria
- Type
- Other
- Reference year
- 2008
- Details
- Chairman's award for the best CRC Sugar Industry Innovation through biotechnology Patent
- Type
- Visiting Professorships/Fellowships
- Reference year
- 2002
- Details
- Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, Department Molecular Science James Cook University.
- East, C., Doherty, W., Fellows, C. & Al-Hamzah, A. (2014). Inhibition of homogenous formation of calcium carbonate by poly (acrylic acid): The effect of molar mass and end-group functionality. Desalination, 338, 93–105. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/67913
- Gilfillan, B., Moghaddam, L. & Doherty, W. (2014). Preparation and characterization of composites from starch with sugarcane bagasse nanofibres. Cellulose, 21(4), 2695–2712. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/71064
- Harrison, M., Zhang, Z., Shand, K., O'Hara, I., Doherty, W. & Dale, J. (2013). Effect of pretreatment on saccharification of sugarcane bagasse by complex and simple enzyme mixtures. Bioresource Technology, 148, 105–113. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/62529
- Zhang, Z., Wong, H., Albertson, P., Doherty, W. & O'Hara, I. (2013). Laboratory and pilot scale pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse by acidified aqueous glycerol solutions. Bioresource Technology, 138, 14–21. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/58821
- Zhang, Z., O'Hara, I., Rackemann, D. & Doherty, W. (2013). Low temperature pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse at atmospheric pressure using mixtures of ethylene carbonate and ethylene glycol. Green Chemistry, 15(1), 255–264. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63065
- Mousavioun, P., George, G. & Doherty, W. (2012). Environmental degradation of lignin/poly(hydroxybutyrate) blends. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 97(7), 1114–1122. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50950
- 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
- Karatzos, S., Edye, L. & Doherty, W. (2012). Sugarcane bagasse pretreatment using three imidazolium-based ionic liquids; Mass balances and enzyme kinetics. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 5, 1–12. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77311
- Doherty, W., (2011). Improved sugar cane juice clarification by understanding calcium Oxide-phosphate-sucrose systems. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 59(5), 1829–1836. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50399
- Tan, S., MacFarlane, D., Upfal, J., Edye, L., Doherty, W., Patti, A., Pringle, J. & Scott, J. (2009). Extraction of lignin from lignocellulose at atmospheric pressure using alkylbenzenesulfonate ionic liquid. Green Chemistry, 11, 339–345. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/43229
- Developing Starch-Based Polymer Composites (2015)
- Conversion of Sugar Cane Lignin into Aromatic Products and Fractionation of Products for Industrial Use (2014)
- Production of Levulinic Acid and Other Chemicals from Sugarcane Fibre (2014)
- Studies on the Clarification of Juice from Whole Sugar Cane Crop (2013)
- The Effect of Juice Composition on the Scaling Rate and Scale Composition in Sugar Mill Evaporators (2013)
- A Study of ionic Liquids for Dissolution of Sugarcane Bagasse (2011)
- Ionic Liquid Pretreatment and Fractionation of Sugarcane Bagasse for the Production of Bioethanol (2011)
- Properties of Lignin and Poly(hydroxybutyrate) Blends (2011)
- A study of the permeability and compressibility properties of Australian bagasse pulp (2009)