Department of
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
 

Image of Eleanor Binner

Eleanor Binner

Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

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Biography

I am an IChemE Chartered Chemical Engineer and Scientist with two decades' experience in the management and delivery of heterogeneous material processing projects in both industry and academia. I graduated from Imperial College, London, with an MEng in Chemical Engineering with a Year Abroad (at the University of Melbourne) in 1999. After completing my PhD in microwave plasma processing at Swinburne University of Technology, I spent time working as an environmental consultant for Coffey Environments, where I worked on assessment and remediation of contaminated land sites. I then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in coal combustion at Monash University before returning to the UK in 2011 to pursue an academic career at the University of Nottingham.

I am the Director of MSc courses for the Department Chemical and Environmental Engineering and teach contaminated land management. I research sustainable processing of renewable and waste materials using microwave process engineering.

I am a member of the Low Carbon Energy and Resources Technologies research group, co-director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Net2Zero and Sustainable Futures Lead for the Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance.

Expertise Summary

I specialise in developing microwave process technologies for the circular economy, converting wastes to novel products for the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. My research focuses on the fundamental understanding of how microwave heating can enhance mass transfer and the application of this knowledge to address industrial challenges (e.g. waste plastics recycling and the sustainable production of chemicals from food waste).

Teaching Summary

I am the Director of MSc Studies and teach in contaminated land and research and design projects.

Research Summary

My research addresses the global challenges of sustainable food production, plastic waste, the move to net zero and a circular economy through development of transformative microwave technologies to… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

My research addresses the global challenges of sustainable food production, plastic waste, the move to net zero and a circular economy through development of transformative microwave technologies to extract valuable biochemicals, such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, from biomass and waste.

I work closely with industry to apply microwave process engineering in circular economy applications. Please see https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7606-9704 for details of public funding.

Future Research

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and International countries who are interested in the following research areas: Production of bio-based chemicals, materials and functional food ingredients from food waste and sustainable biomass sources through development of transformative microwave technologies including Microwave-Assisted Extraction, pre-treatment and stabilisation of agricultural residues, plastics recycling.

Please see the Centre for Doctoral Training in Net2Zero web page for current PhD opportunities with me or my colleagues.

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD


telephone: +44 (0) 115 95 14081