Contact Dr Mingming Zhu
Areas of expertise
- Biomass and Waste
- Conventional & Advanced Fuels
- Hydrogen
- Renewable Energy
Background
Dr Zhu is a Reader in Chemical Engineering at 成人直播 university and an Adjunct Research Fellow of The University of Western Australia.
Dr Zhu obtained BEng in Thermal Engineering from University of Science and Technology Beijing (2006) and MEng in Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophyscis from Tsinghua University (2008). He was awarded the PhD degree in Chemical and Processing Engineering by University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2013.
Dr Zhu's expertise embraces chemical reaction engineering science (e.g. gas-solid reaction and catalytic reactions) and thermal science (e.g. heat transfer, combustion, thermodynamics) relavant to low-carbon fuels and sustainable energy production. His particular interest is on high temperature chemical reactions including solid oxide electrolysis for hydrogen and synthetic fuels, pyrolysis and gasification of biomass and wastes for biofuels and bioenergy, advanced combustion of low-carbon fuels (e.g. hydrogen and ammonia), gas to liquid conversion for methanol and SAF, and applied catalysis for NOx and CO2 reduction.
Dr Zhu has been working closely with industry and successfully secured and delivered more than 拢5 million R&D funds from industry (e.g. EDF UK, BAE System) and competitive research grants programs such as UK EPSRC, Australian Research Council (ARC) and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). His research has led to commercial realities, including development and commercialisation of combustion catalysts, successful demonstration of catalytic pyrolysis technology for hydrogen, syngas, methanol and biochar production, bio-hydrogen production and combustion of ammonia and hydrogen. Dr Zhu recent work is focused on the use of ammonia and methanol as carbon-free fuel and hydrogen carrier, including catalytic combustion, fuel cell and patial oxidation for hydrogen production. Dr Zhu has published more than 140 journal and refereed conference papers and delivered more than 20 presentations and invited talks.
Selected Research Grants:
- 2026: EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award "Catalytic Combustion of Ammonia for Clean Energy Applications" (PI)
- 2024-2028, EPSRC EnerHy CDT "Co-electrolysis of CO2 and steam for hydrogen and sustainable fuels production" (PI)
- 2024-2026: Innovate UK "Hy-PACT: H2 production & supply chain addordability, certification and traceability" (成人直播 PI)
- 2023-25: EPSRC New Investigator Award 鈥淐atalytic combustion of ammonia as a zero-carbon fuel: catalyst design and mechanistic studies鈥� (PI).
- 2023-2025: Innovate UK "Storage and distribution of low-carbon ammonia as an economical hydrogen carrier to decarbonise the cement industry" (成人直播 PI)
- 2022-2026, EPSRC ICASE with EDF Energy R&D UK "Electrocatalytic cracking of ammoina to hydrogen" (PI)
- 2022-2024, Australian Research Council Discovery Project "carbon supported zerovalent iron for NOx reduction" (Co-I)
Research opportunities
Dr Zhu welcomes PhD and Master by Research students, visitors and collaborations with interest in high temperature catalytic reactions for sustainable energy and low-carbon fuels, including pyrolysis and gasification, combustion, solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyser, and applied catalysis for CO2 conversion and NOx reduction.
Current activities
Dr Zhu's current research focuses on the development of advanced technologies for the production of low-carbon fuels and sustainable energy generation, with particular interests in:
(1) Combustion science and technology: catalytic combustion of hydrogen/ammonia for energy and propulsion, combustion in porous medium and fluidised-bed, chemical looping combustion;
(2) Solid oxide fuel cell/electrolyser: ammonia/methanol direct solid oxide fuel cell; co-electrolysis for synthetic fuels; SOFC-Combustion hybrid energy system;
(3) Fuel processing and reforming: pyrolysis and gasification of biomass and wastes for synthetic fuel (e.g. H2, methanol), partial oxidation reforming, gas to liquid conversion;
(4) Applied catalysis for energy and environmental emission control: CO2 capture and conversion, biogas reforming, methanol synthesis, NOx selective catalytic reduction.
Clients
EPSRC
EDF UK
BAE Systems
Samad Power Ltd.
MicroTech
We are Nium
Atkins