Bio

Kwadwo Osseo-Asare is a Distinguished Professor of Distinguished Professor of Metallurgy and Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include: aqueous processing: materials synthesis and processing, nanoparticle synthesis, purification and assembly, wet processing in semiconductor fabrication, chemical-mechanical polishing, surface cleaning, and finishing, hydrometallurgy, separation science and technology, environmental systems, applied aqueous chemistry, interfacial and colloidal phenomena, surfactant science, semiconductor electrochemistry, and thermodynamic modeling

Dr. Osseo-Asare holds BS (1970), MS (1972) and PhD (1975) degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California- Berkeley. His PhD research on thermodynamic modeling and adsorption phenomena in aqueous processing was supervised by Prof. Douglas Fuerstenau.

In 1975, Dr. Osseo-Asare joined the Amax Extractive Research Laboratories, Golden. CO, where as a research metallurgist and project leader he worked on nickel and cobalt extraction and refining. His work is noted for providing new conceptual frameworks and experimental approaches that have significantly advanced scientific understanding of ion and particle transfer, dissolution, and precipitation processes in hydrometallurgy, environmental systems, nanoparticle technology, and semiconductor manufacturing.

Dr. Osseo-Asare began his career at Penn State in 1976, and for over five years served as chair of the Metals Science and Engineering program. He has been a professor of metallurgy since 1976 and a professor of geo-environmental engineering since 1997. Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences honored him with the 1995 Wilson Research Award for Excellence in Research, and the University honored him with a 1999 Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering.

The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers awarded Dr. Osseo-Asare with a 1997 AIME James Douglas Gold Medal for “his contributions to the fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena in leaching, solvent extraction, and particle synthesis." 

Dr. Osseo-Asare is author and co-author of over 150 papers and one book on various aspects of aqueous processing. He is past chair of the AIME Hydrometallurgy-Chemical Processing Committee, the 3rd International Symposium on Hydrometallurgy, and honorary chair of the 4th International Symposium in Hydrometallurgy. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering; the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS); the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME); the American Chemical Society and the Electrochemical Society; and is Editor-in-Chief of Hydrometallurgy.

Actively involved in the global arena, he was an invited participant in meetings of the African mineral resources industry and has served on the leadership team of the Alliance for Earth Science, Engineering and Development in Africa (AESEDA). International academic posts include serving as Head of the Materials Science & Engineering Department at the African University of Science & Technology (AUST) in Nigeria. Dr. Osseo-Asare has been a visiting professor at Tohoku University in Japan, The Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, and Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.

At MIT Dr. Osseo-Asare was hosted as an MLK Visiting Professor at by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Publications

​

Aqueous Processing of Materials: An Introduction to Unit Processes with Applications to Hydrometallurgy, Materials Processing, and Environmental Systems

Elsevier Science & Technology Books, 2011 - 704 pages
 
Focuses on the use of water and water-based chemicals to process raw materials from the earth and transform them into technologically useful materials. In industrial practice, the conversion of raw materials to desired products invariably involves a succession of treatment steps. The approach taken in this text is to present a comprehensive overview of aqueous processing as related to metal extraction, materials processing and recycling, and explore how these processes share common unit operations and processes.

​X. Zeng, J. Quaye, and K. Osseo-Asare "Partition of Hematite in the Triton X-100/Dextran Aqueous Biphase System", Colloids Surf., 246, 135-145 (2004).

P. Suphantharida and K. Osseo-Asare, "Cerium Oxide Slurries in Chemical-Mechanical Polishing: Electrophoretic Mobility and Adsorption Investigations of Ceria/Silicate Interaction", J. Electrochem. Soc., 151, G658-G662 (2004).

Q. Liu and K. Osseo-Asare, "Synthesis of Monodisperse Al-Substituted Hematite Particles from Highly Condensed Metal Hydroxide Gels", J. Colloid Interface Sci., 231, 401-403 (2000).

F. J. Arriagada and K. Osseo-Asare, "Synthesis of Nanosize Silica in a Nonionic Water-in-Oil Microemulsion: Effects of the Water/Surfactant Molar Ratio and Ammonia Concentration", J. Colloid Interface Sci., 211, 210-220 (1999).

D. Wei, and K. Osseo-Asare, "Semiconductor Electrochemistry of Particulate Pyrite: Mechanisms and Products of Dissolution. J. Electrochem. Soc. , 144, 546-553 (1997).