Rate My Professor Merrick Mahoney

Associate Professor Merrick Mahoney holds the position of Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Newcastle, Australia, within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. He is affiliated with the Centre for Ironmaking Materials Research and the BHP Centre for Sustainable Steelmaking Research in the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources. Mahoney obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Newcastle, completing it between 1980 and 1985. Throughout his career at the University of Newcastle, he has focused on chemical engineering aspects of ironmaking and steelmaking, contributing to research on coal pyrolysis and coke production processes. His work has been associated with the Department of Chemical Engineering in earlier publications and continues in the broader School of Engineering.

Mahoney's research specializations encompass the behavior of coking coals and metallurgical cokes, including chemical transformations during coking, plastic layer formation, pore microstructures, coke strength, reactivity, and abrasion resistance under blast furnace conditions. He has produced 78 publications listed on ResearchGate, which have received 1,685 citations and 11,796 reads. Key publications include 'Influence of elevated temperature and gas atmosphere on coke abrasion resistance. Part two: Blast furnace cokes' (2024), 'Influence of elevated temperature and gas atmosphere on coke abrasion resistance. Part one: Pilot oven cokes' (2023), 'Classifying coke using CT scans and landmark multidimensional scaling' (2023), 'Using xenon K-edge subtraction to image the gas-accessible porosity within a blast furnace coke' (2023), 'Identification of preferential pathways in the pore microstructure of metallurgical coke and links to anisotropic strength properties' (2021), 'A comprehensive study on the transformation of chemical structures in the plastic layers during coking of Australian coals' (2020), 'A review of the state-of-the-art research on carbon structure evolution during the coking process: From plastic layer chemistry to 3D carbon structure establishment' (2020), 'Chemical Changes of Australian Coking Coals from Different Basins during Pyrolysis' (2016, Energy & Fuels), and 'In Situ FTIR-MS Study Correlations of Coal Properties with FTIR Spectra during Pyrolysis' (2015, Energy & Fuels). Mahoney has been acknowledged in the ACARP Research and Industry Excellence Awards for his long-term commitment to research on the transformation from coal to coke.