Yee-Kwong Leong — the UWA Profiles and Research Repository

Personal profile

Biography

I obtained my Bachelor from the Universiti Sains Malaysia and a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1989. I have over 110 journal publications and more than 50 refereed conference publications. I received more than 2000 citations and a H-index of 24. Some my research works and data were reproduced in two very well-regarded chemical Engineering Textbook; Rheology and Structure of Complex Fluids (1999) and Colloidal Suspension Rheology (2012).

Roles and responsibilities

I control the suspension rheology by employing surface chemistry tools to regulate the surface or interparticle forces in slurry processing.

Problems encountered and solved:
I) ability to solve gelation problem in the production of ammonium phosphate slurries
ii) ability to reduce the pumping cost of mineral/tailings slurries with low cost composite additives
iii) ability to enhance the performance clay/mineral separation in iron ore slurries.

Future research

I) Clay gel, surface chemistry, microstructure and ageing rheological behaviour
ii) Hydrometallurgical methods of enhancing rare Earth Metal extraction.
iii) Sequential layering of polyelectrolytes on ceramic oxide particles in suspension and its rheological behaviour.
iv) Iron oxide separation methods and purity

Funding overview

I have received ARC Linkage, Discovery and LIEF grants over the past 20 years. I have also received funding from industry such as OSD pty ltd, Active Minerals Inc, QNI, WMC Fertilizers, Zinifex Century and a few others

Current projects

I) Rare Earth Extraction
ii) Iron ore processing
iii) Suspension rheology

Industrial relevance

My research generates new fundamental and applied knowledge that can be used to solve industrial suspension problems in rheology, thickening and consolidation, flotation and other hydrometallurgical processes. Clay suspension processing problems are of particular interest to me. Over the past 10 years, I have conducted extensive research on surface chemistry, rheology, microstructure and ageing properties of a range of clays such as kaolin, bentonite, sodium and calcium montmorillonite and Laponite.

Teaching overview

I) Reaction Engineering/Design
ii) Particle Mechanics and Solids Handling
iii) Particle Technology
iV) Mass Transfer Operation/Process modules
v) Thermodynamics

Research

Surface Chemistry/force and Rheology of Suspension: Control of suspension processing behaviour;
Microstructure and Rheology of clay and oxide suspensions;
Ageing and Microstructure of Swelling Clay Suspensions - Thickening of low density suspensions;
Coal and biochar slurry fuel preparation;
Experiment and Population balance modelling of flocculation and flocs fragmentation.

Languages

English
Bahasa and Chinese dialect

Keywords

Optimising fertiliser slurries—monoammonium phosphate (MAP) and diammonium phosphate (DAP), processing in flow reactors via surface chemistry controls
Optimising clay and mineral suspension processing via surface force control
Surface chemistry and rheology of emulsions and dispersions
Rheometry and slip flow
Clay and ceramic slurries zeta potential and yield stress
Dewatering and thickening of slimes
Particle network strength enhancement
Slip casting