Rate My Professor Hong Peng

Dr. Hong (Marco) Peng is an Amplify Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland in 2014, receiving the OZ Minerals Award for Excellent PhD Thesis. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a chemical engineer at BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam site and Newcastle Technology Centre from 2006 to 2009. Following his PhD, Peng was awarded Advance Queensland Research Fellowships for Early Career (2016-2019) and Industry Research Mid-Career (2020-2023), UQ Amplify Fellowships (2019-2021 and 2023-2026), and advanced to his current senior lecturing position. He serves as Chief Investigator for the ARC Research Hub for Process Valorisation of Residual Streams and the ARC Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy. Peng leads funded projects with industry partners including Rio Tinto, Ma’aden, and Newcrest on topics such as bauxite beneficiation, rare earth extraction from kaolin, high purity alumina production, and pressure oxidation of gold-bearing sulphides.

Peng's research focuses on mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, including precipitation, crystallisation, bioleaching, froth flotation, and nanobubbles, as well as valorisation of bauxite residue and mine tailings into zeolites, alumina, and environmental functional materials using molecular dynamics simulations. Notable awards include the TMS Light Metals Subject Award - Alumina/Bauxite (2025), TMS Young Leaders Professional Development Award (2020), Best Alumina Paper at ICSOBA Conference (2017), and Travel Award for Universitas 21 Early Career Researcher Workshop (2018). Key publications are 'A low-cost process for complete utilization of bauxite residue' (Journal of Environmental Management, 2024), 'Selective CO2 hydrogenation over zeolite-based catalysts for targeted high-value products' (Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2023), 'Silica gel free region and rare earth metal extraction correlations in reprocessing bauxite residue' (Minerals Engineering, 2023), 'Revealing the effect of anions on the formation and transformation of zeolite LTA in caustic solutions: an in situ synchrotron PXRD study' (Crystal Growth and Design, 2023), and 'Synthesis of zeolite from low-cost feeds and its sustainable environmental applications' (Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2023). He coordinates Chemical Thermodynamics (CHEE3003) since 2021, lectures in Engineering Investigation & Statistical Analysis (CHEE2010) since 2019, and holds TMS leadership roles as Chair of the Recycling and Environmental Technologies Committee (2024-2026) and leading topic editor for JOM.