Mingyong Du, mentee in the 2018 Energy-Minerals Resources program in Western Australia (UWA)
Mingyong is currently doing his PhD at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Chemical Engineering under International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) and Australian Post Graduate Award (APA).
His current research focus on the surface chemistry, rheology and microstructure investigation of swelling clay slurries. The research focuses on solving two aspects of problems: 1) Improving the flowability and pumpability of the mineral tailings through adjusting the rheology such as the viscosity, shear stress and yield stress; 2) Treating the tailings through thickening and dewatering in order to reduce the tailings volume and reduce the environmental pollution. The research outcome can also be used in drilling fluids study in oil and gas well drilling.
Mingyong completed his Bachelor and Master in China in Oil & Gas Engineering. His research mainly focus on Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) while he was doing his master research.
For the last years of his research, he got experience in mineral tailings management, drilling fluids investigation and EOR.