Dr Katrina Wruck
Faculty of Science,
School of Chemistry & Physics
Katrina Wruck is from the Mabuigilaig First Nation at Mabuiag Island (Torres Strait Islands)
Biography
Katrina Wruck is an early career Postdoctoral Research Fellow with expertise in the green activation of mineralogical samples and mining waste to make value-added products. In line with the Centre for Materials Science themes, her research focuses of materials characterisation of meta-phase condensed matter materials utilising both traditional and non-ambient analysis such as thermal in situ XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) and TGA-SIFT-MS (Thermogravimetric Analysis Selected Ion Flow Mass Spectroscopy). Her is cross-disciplinary, encompassing knowledge from the fields of industrial chemistry, process engineering and materials science to deliver high-tech, green chemistry-based solutions for the transition to cleaner adsorption technologies.She began at QUT in 2012 as an undergraduate, competing the Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemistry) with Distinction. She began her research journey as an undergraduate in 2013 through the QUT Vacation Research Experience Scheme (VRES) at the ARC Centre for Excellence in Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology under Professor Kathryn Fairfull-Smith investigating the synthesis of compounds TMIO and TEIO from iodination of isoindoline nitroxides.
After getting a taste for research, she joined the Resource Transformation Group working under Professor Graeme Millar for the completion of various projects including a Final Year Research Project, VRES, Honours degree (Chemistry) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Of note, she worked with Gilmour Space Corporation to activate silver gauze catalysts for monopropellant light weight satellites which utilises 3D printed rocket fuel. Her PhD research was sponsored by the ARC research hub for Energy Efficient Separation which was a cross-institution initiative to develop advanced separation materials, products and processes with a low carbon footprint in Australia. Katrina worked with Zeolites Australia to transform low grade ultra-fine natural heulandite zeolite dust to high grade synthetic zeolite LTA using a novel process.
Personal details
Positions
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Faculty of Science,
School of Chemistry & Physics
Keywords
Industrial Chemistry, Mining, Green Chemistry
Research field
Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
Publications
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Katrina, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).