Rate My Professor Arjan Abeynaike

Dr Arjan Abeynaike is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Otago, having joined the institution in 2022. He contributes to the Energy Science and Technology programme, where he serves as the Course Coordinator for EMAN204 Renewable Energy Technologies. Abeynaike holds an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Auckland and earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2011, focusing on biodiesel production. Before returning to New Zealand, his career included roles as a chemical engineer at a BP research centre and a petrochemical plant, a safety and risk consultant in Hong Kong, and teaching an undergraduate programme in New Energy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).

His research centres on processes that enhance the sustainability of energy and materials. As the leader of the Sustainable Fuels group, Abeynaike develops assessments to objectively compare the energy, environmental, and economic merits of sustainable fuels, including biofuels, e-fuels, hydrogen, and ammonia. Additionally, he explores methods for treating challenging wastes such as electronic waste, food waste, biomedical waste, clothing, and composite materials. His scholarly contributions include the 2025 publication "Energy carrier exports from New Zealand to Japan: A comparative life cycle assessment of hydrogen and ammonia" in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, co-authored with Yuna Barbenel. Other notable works are "Reliability modelling of over-pressure protection systems for oil and gas flowlines" (2017, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries), "The experimental observation and modelling of film thinning and film retraction during the interfacial coalescence of biodiesel and glycerol droplets" (2013, Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society), "The experimental measurement and modelling of sedimentation and creaming for glycerol/biodiesel droplet dispersions" (2012, Chemical Engineering Science), and "Pyrolysed powdered mussel shells for eutrophication control: Effect of particle size and powder concentration on the mechanism and extent of phosphate removal" (2011, Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering).