Profile image for M Akbar Rhamdhani

Professor M Akbar Rhamdhani

Professor; Director Fluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group
PhD, McMaster University, Canada; BEng (Hons), Institute Technology Bandung, Indonesia

Biography

Professor Muhammad Akbar RHAMDHANI is currently the Director of Fluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group; and Program Leader of Net Zero Carbon Materials and Processes (Manufacturing Future Research Platform) at Swinburne. He is also leading research at the university on Energy Transition Metals. He is currently the Co Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, TMS Springer Nature, USA.

Akbar is a Professor in Extractive Metallurgy and Metals Recycling. Akbar obtained his PhD from McMaster University Canada in Materials Science and Engineering. He has been a teaching-research academic at Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB) and the University of Queensland, before joining Swinburne. Akbar was a Visiting Professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium and Visiting Scientist at CSIRO. 

Akbar's research expertises are on advanced metal/material refining and impurities removal; development of new processes for metal production; thermodynamics and kinetics of high temperature metal and chemical processes; low-carbon metal processes. Akbar's current research directions include: (1) Recycling and recovery of metals from urban resources (e-waste, end-of-life alkaline and lithium ion batteries, solar panel, permanent magnet); (2) Decarbonisation and Hydrogenation of metallurgical processes; (3) Pyrometallurgical processes of Rare Earth Elements (REE) minerals; (4) Solar metallurgy (the use of concentrated solar thermal energy for minerals and metals processing); and (5) Astro metallurgy (extra-terrestrial minerals and metals processing; e.g. metals extraction on Mars and Lunar).

Akbar has been working conducting joint research, delivering courses and workshops with/to metals industries in Australia, Europe and Indonesia. Akbar and research teams have been awarded a number of international awards including the 2024 LMD/EPD Best Energy Paper from TMS, USA; 2023 JSM Best Paper Award from TMS, USA; 2023 Adrian Normanton Award from IOM3, UK; the 2020 Williams Award from IOM3, UK; the 2019 Kent D Peaslee Award from AIST USA; the 2015 Mann Redmayne Medal from IOM3 United Kingdom; the 2015 Marcus Grossmann Medal from ASM International USA; and the 2015 MetSoc Award from Metallurgical Society of Canada. Also recently, Akbar was awarded a 2018 World Class Professor and 2018 World Class Scholar from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia.

Research interests

High Temperature Materials Processing; High Temperature Physical Chemistry; Phase Equilibria; Advanced Metals/Materials Refining and Impurities Removal; Extractive Metallurgy; Resource Efficiency; Recovery of Metals from Alternative and Urban Ores; New Processes for Metals Production with Low Carbon Footprint; Process Thermodynamics and Kinetics; Solar Processing of Metals and Materials; Astrometallurgy

PhD candidate and honours supervision

Higher degrees by research

Accredited to supervise Masters & Doctoral students as Principal Supervisor.

Honours

Available to supervise honours students.

Fields of Research

  • Pyrometallurgy - 401908
  • Metals And Alloy Materials - 401607
  • Energy Generation, Conversion And Storage (excl. Chemical And Electrical) - 401703

Teaching areas

Thermodynamics;Heat Transfer;Renewable Energy

Awards

  • 2024, International, LMD/EPD Energy Best Paper Award, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), USA
  • 2023, International, Erasmus+ ICM Academic Mobility, EU - University Miskolc, Hungary
  • 2023, International, EPD/LMD Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy Best Paper Award, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), USA
  • 2023, International, Adrian Normanton Medal , IOM3, UK
  • 2021, Swinburne, Vice Chancellor's Global Initiative Award, Swinburne
  • 2020, International, Williams Award, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3), United Kingdom
  • 2019, International, SCKD (World Class Scholar) 2019, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia
  • 2019, International, Kent D. Peaslee Award, AIST (Association for Iron and Steel Technology), USA
  • 2018, International, World Class Professor 2018, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia
  • 2018, International, SCKD (World Class Scholar) 2018 , Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia
  • 2018, Swinburne, Faculty FSET Teaching Award (Most Improved Unit), Swinburne
  • 2018, Swinburne, Faculty FSET Researcher of the Year (MCR), Swinburne
  • 2017, Swinburne, A highly commended mention in Vice Chancellor's Teaching Excellence (Higher Education) Award, Swinburne
  • 2016, Swinburne, Research Sabbatical Scheme, Swinburne
  • 2015, International, MetSoc Award, Metallurgical Society of Canada, CIM
  • 2015, International, Marcus Grossmann Award, ASM International
  • 2015, International, Mann Redmayne Medal, IOM3, UK
  • 2015, National, Australia-Korea Research Leader Exchange Scholar, NRF Korea - DFAT Australia
  • 2009, Swinburne, Vice Chancellor's Research Award, Swinburne
  • 2009, Swinburne, Vice Chancellor's Internationalisation Award, Swinburne
  • 2004, Other, Clifton W Sherman Scholarship, McMaster
  • 2003, Other, Stelco-McMaster Graduate Fellowship, McMaster
  • 2003, Other, D.A.R. Kay Memorial Prize, McMaster
  • 2002, Other, Stelco-McMaster Graduate Fellowship, McMaster
  • 2000, Other, Best and Youngest Graduate - Mechanical Engineering, ITB
  • 1999, Other, Best Student from Dr Abdoel Djalal Foundation, ITB

Publications

Also published as: Rhamdhani, M.; Rhamdhani, Muhammad; Akbar Rhamdhani, M.; Akbar Rhamdhani, Muhammad; Rhamdhani, A.; Rhamdhani, Akbar; Rhamdhani, M. A.; Rhamdhani, M. Akbar; Rhamdhani, MAkbar; Rhamdhani, Muhammad A.; Rhamdhani, Muhammad Akbar
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