STAFF PROFILE
Associate Professor Abbas Mohajerani
Associate Professor Abbas Mohajerani is a member of the academic staff in the discipline of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering at RMIT University. He is an expert in Geotechnical Engineering and materials and has extensive academic experience as a lecturer and researcher with many years of industrial experience. He founded the Geotechnical Engineering sub-discipline at RMIT and has developed several courses in this area.
In 2005, Dr Mohajerani began to direct some of his research energy into a new area - the problem of cigarette butt (CB) pollution. In early 2006, he carried out some feasibility studies on recycling cigarette butts in fired clay bricks and asphalt concrete and applied for an ARC (Australian Research Council) grant for recycling CBs in fired clay bricks. In 2007, as a senior supervisor, he offered this topic to a PhD student who was looking for a different topic for her study. A/Prof. Mohajerani has supervised over 30 projects on recycling CBs in different construction materials since 2005. He is currently supervising seven undergraduate capstone projects and two PhD studies on different topics relating to recycling cigarette butts. In 2016, he published a practical proposal for the recycling of CBs in fired-clay bricks, which received widespread international media coverage. In 2017, he published some of the results from his study on ‘recycling encapsulated cigarette buts in asphalt concrete’, which was also covered extensively by the international media. Dr Mohajerani aims to solve the cigarette butt pollution problem in the world through research and collaboration with industries and governments.
Furthermore, he has led research on recycling biosolids (treated wastewater sludge) in fired clay bricks since 2013. In January 2019, the publication of his paper, ‘A Proposal for Recycling the World’s Unused Stockpiles of Biosolids in Fired-Clay Bricks’, resulted in extensive media coverage, both nationally and internationally, including an interview with the New York Times. The results of this research and the publication of the proposal paper has led to the brick industry requesting biosolids from wastewater treatment industry. Dr Mohajerani believes that the significant energy savings achieved during the firing of biosolids-clay bricks, achieved through the utilisation of green energy (of the organic matter content) from biosolids, has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of brick manufacturing, as well as reduce the demand for the excavation of large amounts of virgin soil from the earth’s crust. In addition, the utilisation of biosolids will eliminate or reduce significantly an important source of greenhouse gases from the large number of biosolids stockpiles worldwide, reducing the carbon footprint of the wastewater treatment and biosolids industries. His aim is to see all biosolids production in the world (which is about 100 million tonnes per year) utilised in brick manufacturing as a source of green energy and brick raw material through research and collaboration with industries
Dr Mohajerani believes that we are all responsible for thinking about and meaningfully and effectively doing whatever we can to urgently restore the natural sustainability to the environment.
Teaching
- Coordinating and teaching Geotechnical Engineering 3 (CIVE1159)
- Coordinating Geotechnical Engineering 3 (CIVE1160, HK)
- Teaching Geotechnical Engineering 2 (CIVE1108)
- Coordinating and teaching Advanced Geotechnical Design and Construction (CIVE1244, Master course)
- Engineering Capstone Research Projects OENG1167
- Engineering Capstone Research Projects OENG1168
Awards
- 1st prize in the 2017 Student Choice Teaching Awards in the College of Science Engineering and Health
- School of Engineering 2019 Executive Dean's Teaching Excellence Award
Supervisor's Projects
- Leading the development of technologies for recycling cigarette butts in construction materials
- Leading the development of cigarette butt encapsulation technology for recycling cigarette butts
- Leading the development of technologies for utilisation of biosolids in construction and pavement materials
- Development of technologies for utilisation of waste in construction and pavements
- Development of sustainable brick technology
- Liquefaction of iron ore fines in bulk carriers during marine transportation
- Geotechnical engineering
- B.S. in Civil Engineering (five-year program), Shiraz University, Iran
- M.S. in Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University
- Ph.D. in Geomechanics, University of Western Australia.
- Course in Slope Stability Analysis, University of California, Davis.
- Courses in Highway Materials, Advanced Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Earth Structures and Structural Dynamics - Oregon State University.
- Courses in Mine Fill Technology, Rock Mechanics, Rock Slope Stability, Rock Mechanics Measurements - University of New South Wales.
Professional memberships
- Fellow, Engineers Australia
- Member, Australian Geomechanics Society
- Member, Concrete Institute of Australia
Field of Media
Recycling cigarette butts in bricks, Preparation of cigarette butts for recycling, Utilisation of biosolids (treated wastewater sludge), Innovative biosolids-clay bricks, Recycling waste in construction materials, Sustainable green bricks, Recycling waste in asphalt concrete, Pavement materials, Geotechnical Engineering and materials,
- Xin, Y.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, J.,Pramanik, B. (2023). Transformation of waste-contaminated glass dust in sustainable fired clay bricks In: Case Studies in Construction Materials, 18, 1 - 16
- Xin, Y.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, P.,Pramanik, B. (2023). A Viable Solution for Industrial Waste Ash: Recycling in Fired Clay Bricks In: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 35, 1 - 12
- Xin, Y.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, P.,Pramanik, B. (2023). Energy efficiency of waste reformed fired clay bricks-from manufacturing to post application In: Energy, 282, 1 - 12
- Yuan, Q.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, J.,Pramanik, B. (2023). Sustainable ceramic tiles incorporated with waste fly ash from recycled paper production In: Journal of Cleaner Production, 425, 1 - 15
- Xin, Y.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, P.,Pramanik, B. (2023). Utilizing rejected contaminants from the paper recycling process in fired clay brick production In: Construction and Building Materials, 409, 1 - 12
- Mohajerani, A.,Kurmus, H.,Rahman, M.,Smith, J.,Woo, S.,Jones, D.,Ghafouri Dastjerdi, M.,Pulitano, J.,Nguyen, B.,Calderon, C. (2022). Bitumen and Paraffin Wax Encapsulated Cigarette Butts: Physical Properties and Leachate Analysis In: International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, 15, 931 - 947
- Yuan, Q.,Mohajerani, A.,Kristoforus, A.,Kurmus, H.,Chowdhury, U.,Robert, D.,Pramanik, B.,Tran, J. (2022). Recycling cigarette butts in ceramic tiles In: Buildings, 12, 1 - 13
- Mohajerani, A.,Kurmus, H.,Conti, D.,Cash, L.,Semcesen, A.,Abdurahman, M.,Rahman, M. (2022). Environmental impacts and leachate analysis of waste rubber incorporated in construction and road materials: A review In: Science of the Total Environment, 835, 1 - 20
- Yuan, Q.,Robert, D.,Mohajerani, A.,Tran, J.,Pramanik, B. (2022). Utilisation of waste-to-energy fly ash in ceramic tiles In: Construction and Building Materials, 347, 1 - 12
- Choo, Z.,Kadir, A.,Sarani, N.,Hassan, M.,Mohajerani, A. (2022). Study on the Carbon Footprint Reduction Through Recycling Activities in UTHM: Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic In: International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 13, 144 - 153
12 PhD Completions
- Use of biosolids in enhanced fired clay bricks. Funded by: Melbourne Water Corporation - competitive from (2013 to 2016)