Eric May is the CEO of the Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre. He is also the Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering at UWA which, in 2011, was endowed in perpetuity. He was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2018-22, and was a Visiting International Professor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany from 2015-18.

His research group at UWA works closely with industry, conducting projects in LNG production, flow assurance, CCS and fluid property prediction. In 2017, Eric co-established Gas Capture Technologies Pty Ltd, a spin-out company for patented technologies to capture methane from coal mines, land-fill gas and other sources. In 2019 he led the bid to establish the Future Energy Exports CRC, which conducts industrial-scale research to support LNG and Hydrogen exports from Australia. Eric was awarded WA Scientist of the Year as part of the 2021 Premiers Science Awards. 

2020  Managing Director, Future Energy Exports CRC Pty Ltd

2018  Australian Research Council Future Fellow, UWA

2017  Director, Gas Capture Technologies Pty Ltd, ABN 31 619 109 278

2015  Director, ARC ITTC Australian Centre for LNG Futures, UWA

2015  Visiting International Professor, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

2014  Secondment, Chevron Energy Technology Research Company, Richmond CA

2009  Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering, Centre for Energy, UWA

2005  Lecturer: Process Engineering, School of Oil & Gas Engineering, UWA

2003  American Australian Association Education Fellow, NIST, USA

Major Research Achievements:

2020  Awarded Future Energy Exports CRC grant  | $78 million over 10 years

2015  Awarded ARC ITTC for LNG Futures grant  | $9 million over 5 years

2011  Proposed & secured the endowment in perpetuity of the Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering at UWA | $5,750,000 | 5th ever at UWA

2009  Appointed Chevron Chair of Gas Process Engineering  | UWA

2008  Promoted to Senior Lecturer  | UWA; title change in 2009 to Associate Professor

Unit Title

Advanced Thermodynamics (Lecturer and Coordinator) | Course: Masters of Professional Engineering (Chemical) and Masters of Engineering (Oil & Gas)

Gas Processing 2: Treatment & LNG Production (Lecturer and Coordinator) | Course: Masters of Professional Engineering (Chemical) and Masters of Engineering (Oil & Gas)

Seabed to Surface: Part 1 - Flow Assurance & Gas Processing (Lecturer) | Course: Australia-China LNG Training Program, Australian Institute of Management & UWA

Since 2006, I have secured over $100 million in research funding as either leader or co-Chief Investigator.

2020-2030   Future Energy Exports CRC  |  $40 million Department of Industry, Innovation & Science  |  $38 million Industry  |  University & State Government Consortium

2019-2019   UWA Industry 4.0 Testlab for Energy & Resources Digital Interoperability  |  $2,000,000  |  Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, UWA, AMIRA.

2019-2019  Methanol & Back Pressure Reduction Deployment  |  $198,554  |  Shell

2019-2021  Next Generation Gas Separations via Innovative Adsorption Technologies  |  $646,000  |  ARC Discovery

2018-2021  Unlocking Australia’s Gas Endowment |  $998,125 |  ARC Future Fellow

2018-2020  Optical Measurements of Cryogenic Solids Formation in LNG Fluids | $364,630 | ExxonMobil

2018-2018  Property Data for Alternative Refrigerants: Effect of CO₂  |  $350,000 |  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

2018-2018  The LNG Futures Facility – Phases 1 & 2  |  $525,000 NERA |  $525,000 Chevron, Shell, Hyundai Heavy Industries and UWA

2017-2017  Wax, Emulsion and Rheology Testing |  $220,600 | Chevron

2017-2017  Property Data for Alternative Refrigerants |  $225,000 |  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

2017-2017  Acoustic Levitation Facility for High Pressure Multiphase Systems Research |  $335,500 | ARC LIEF

2017-2019  CO₂-CH₄ Exchange in Porous Media for Carbon-Neutral Energy Production |  $391,000 |  ARC Discovery

2015-2020  Australian Centre for LNG Futures |  $4,571,797   ARC ITTC |  $4,223,681 Chevron, Shell, Woodside, Daewoo, Samsung, Guodian New Energy Technology Research Institute

2015-2019  Controlling Hydrate Slurry Flow to Enable Deepwater Oil & Gas Production |  $420,000 ARC Linkage |  $350,000 Woodside

2015-2019  Managing Hydrate Formation for Viable CO₂ and Energy Transport |  $682,200 |  ARC Discovery

2014-2015  Hydrate Risk Assessment for Greater Enfield Development |  $341,390 |  Woodside

2013-2015  Nitrogen capture from natural gas with transition metal complex solutions |  $740,000, Chevron ETC

2012-2015  Cryogenic solids formation in LNG production |  $822,695 ARC Linkage Project |  $785,000, Chevron ETC

2015-2015  High-pressure hydrocarbon mixtures thermophysical properties data |  US$240,000 Gas Processors Association |  $300,000 ARC Linkage Project

2012-2014  CO₂ sequestration for enhanced gas recovery |  $493,000 WA Government (LEED)

2012-2012  A Raman facility for advanced research supporting Australia's natural gas, oil, coal and minerals industries |  $520,000  |  Australian Research Council, LIEF

2011-2012  National Geo-sequestration Laboratory:  CO₂ processing and sequestration |  $5,800,000 of total $48,000,000 from EIF, Australian Government

2011-2015  Multi-column PSA for N₂ purification |  $500,000 Chevron ETC |  $356,000 WA Government (LEED)

2011-2012  Benchmarking improved LNG simulation against operational plant data |  $99,000, Woodside |  $49000, Chevron

2011-2014  Safe remediation of liquid filled hydrate plugs by direct electrical heating |  $692,000 |   Chevron ETC

2010-2012  Redefining Temperature |  $570,000 |  ARC Discovery

2009-2011  Chevron Chair In Gas Process Engineering | $2,236,600 | Chevron Australia (Salary, Discretionary, Research Fellows, PhD Scholarships)

2009-2011  Supercritical CO₂ -CH₄ Displacement in Tight Gas Reservoirs |  $425,000 |  Shell Development Australia

2007-2011  Advanced pressure swing adsorption technology for improved feed treatment and enhanced LNG production efficiency |  $1,225,000 Chevron Australia |  $263,000 ARC Linkage Project |  $645,000 WA:ERA MRF Grant

2007-2011  Measurement and correlation of PVT and VLE data for cryogenic LNG fluids to improve process design, simulation and operation | $941,000 Chevron Australia | $390,000 ARC Linkage Project | $645,000 WA:ERA MRF Grant