Chemical & process engineering Energy
We're looking at the development, well-being, and progress of society is closely linked to the availability of energy.
We're developing more effective methods for the extraction of conventional energy resources, as well as researching ways to make alternative energy sources, such as biomass, more economically competitive.
In addition, we're actively developing novel chemical processes that more efficiently and more cleanly use current energy resources.
Meet the team
Professor Sudipta Roy
I'm interested in the areas of electrochemical engineering and electrochemistry. The research encompasses new engineering novel chemistry and materials for electrochemical energy devices, like batteries, capacitors, and fuel cells.
Dr Ashleigh Fletcher
With significant experience in the manufacture, modification, and characterisation of carbonaceous materials, work includes closed-loop approaches to carbon capture and development and deployment of biochar media.
Dr Demosthenes Kivotides
We work on the physics, numerics, and algorithmics of incompressible/compressible flows, superfluids and magnetohydrodynamic plasmas. Our research covers a range of flows relevant to gas and oil, cryogenic and nuclear energy industries.
Dr Miguel Jorge
Some of the most energy-intensive chemical processes are challenging gas separations. We're developing computational models to predict how promising new materials perform in those separations, aiming to replace current technologies with energy-saving adsorption processes.
Dr Jun Li
I am interested in enabling wider use of waste streams as a sustainable resource to cost-effectively produce energy and fuels, including clean bioenergy technologies, production of renewable hydrogen/hydrogen-rich syngas, decarbonising energy/chemical systems, as well as advanced computational fluid dynamics modelling of multiphase reacting fluids.
Dr Iain Burns
I'm interested in laser imaging of reacting flows applied to emissions reduction from combustion. Techniques include laser-induced incandescence; laser-induced fluorescence; cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy; cavity ring-down spectroscopy.
Dr Edward Brightman
My research is in electrochemical energy conversion and storage, including fuel cells, electrolysers and redox flow batteries. I focus on engineering novel devices, particularly for new flow battery chemistries and electrochemical hydrogen production processes, as well as working on diagnostic techniques for manufacturing of membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells and electrolysers.
Dr Paul Grassia
I'm interested in foam and multiphase fluid processes. These find use not only in the energy sector (foam-based improved oil recovery) but elsewhere too in separation technologies (foam fractionation, liquid-liquid extraction). Innovative processes like these are alternatives to conventional separation techniques, which are often energy intensive.
Dr Vassilis Inglezakis
My research interest is around the production of fuels and other useful chemicals by use of H2O and CO2 and for that purpose we use Aspen Plus simulation. The research extends to in-situ resource utilisation on Mars and the ways chemical engineering processes can be adapted to support human settlements.
Dr Dragos Neagu
Our focus is on electrochemical and membrane-based energy conversion devices for carbon dioxide conversion to fuels and green hydrogen production, including electrolysers, fuel cells and membrane reactors.
Dr Xiaolei Zhang
We work on developing decarbonisation technologies (thermal- and chemical-) for organic wastes valorisation towards a circular economy, including production of liquid transportation fuels and value-added chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass and organic solid wastes. Our work focuses on mechanism and kinetics investigation from an atomic or molecular level using Density Functional Theory and Molecular Dynamics.
