Rate My Professor Karen Steel

Steel's research specializations center on energy and resources, encompassing coal science, gas recovery from coal seams, and sustainable mineral processing. She develops innovative experimental and analytical capabilities to provide novel insights for Australian industries' global competitiveness. Key contributions include pioneering high-temperature oscillatory shear rheometry to characterize coal microstructure during pyrolysis and carbonisation, identifying viscoelastic thresholds for bubble dynamics, formulating hypotheses on oven wall pressures, and creating mechanistic models for coke strength. Integrating rheometry with X-ray micro-CT, she examines pore structure evolution's role in coke strength and explores biomass pyrolysis, such as sugarcane bagasse, for biocoke production. Other foci involve enhancing coal seam gas recovery via mineral dissolution, cleat etching, and advanced imaging for flow simulation; and novel CO2 sequestration through Mg-carbonate formation from Mg-silicates or tailings, integrated with nickel recovery. Her influence is evident in projects like metallurgical coal carbonisation, gas production prediction, and CO2 mineral processes. Selected key publications include 'CO2-induced pH control reduces cathode scaling and enhances electrochemical acid recovery from nickel laterite waste solution' (2025, Separation and Purification Technology), 'Effect of temperature on coal maceral dissolution and matrix alteration during NaClO stimulation' (2025, International Journal of Coal Geology), 'Biocoke: Carrying capacity of coking coals for sugarcane bagasse char' (2025, Fuel), 'A novel micro-CT technique for characterising structural interfaces in metallurgical coke' (2025, ISIJ International), and 'Microalgae blending for sustainable metallurgical coke production' (2023, Fuel).