Rate My Professor Xiangpeng Gao

Dr. Xiangpeng Gao serves as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Energy at Murdoch University, where he is affiliated with the Centre for Water, Energy and Waste in the Harry Butler Institute. His expertise lies in chemical engineering, with a focus on sustainable energy technologies, waste management, and environmental processes. Key research areas include biomass pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, smouldering combustion for sewage sludge treatment, biochar production, coal combustion, particulate matter emissions, mineral transformations during combustion, algal biomass processing, and supercapacitors derived from biomass. Dr. Gao contributes significantly to postgraduate supervision, having guided multiple Doctor of Philosophy theses such as 'Valorisation of cereal straw in Western Australia: Feedstock characterisation and thermochemical conversion optimisation' (2022), 'Process Innovations in Applied Smouldering of Sewage Sludge' (2025), 'Hydrothermal carbonisation of microalgae: Feedstock characterisation, process optimisation and product upgrading' (2020), and 'Treatment of pyrolytic wastewater and adsorption of heavy bio-oil from catalytic pyrolysis of waste plastics' (2023), along with several Masters by Coursework theses on topics including solar power towers, energy modelling, and solar PV farms.

In June 2025, Dr. Gao joined a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project (LP230200867) led by The University of Western Australia, in collaboration with Tianqi Lithium Kwinana Pty Ltd and Murdoch University, to revolutionize lithium refining sustainability. As a leading expert in Chemical Engineering and Carbon Capture Engineering, he leads efforts in system integration and performance evaluation to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate using CO₂ emissions, building on prior consultancy work titled 'Roadmap to Decarbonisation for Tianqi Lithium Kwinana Refinery'. His scholarly output includes impactful publications such as 'Research progress in the degradation of printing and dyeing wastewater by laccase: A review' (International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2024), 'Hierarchical porous carbon from mango seed husk for electro-chemical energy storage' (Chemical Engineering Journal Advances, 2021), 'Effects of product recovery methods on the yields and properties of biocrude from hydrothermal liquefaction of Spirulina platensis' (Fuel, 2023), 'Synthesis of triethylenetetramine modified sodium alginate/CuS hydrogel beads and its application in Cr(VI) removal' (International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2023), and studies on PM removal performance in coal-fired power stations (Energy & Fuels, 2016). Dr. Gao also holds the role of Academic Chair for the Climate Change Management unit at Murdoch University.