Professor Paul Williams

Profile

Paul Williams is Professor of Environmental Engineering at The University of Leeds and has a research background in both applied chemistry and process engineering.  He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Energy.  He has published more than 500 academic papers in the area of environmental engineering, including waste and biomass pyrolysis, gasification and waste incineration.  He has also authored a second edition of a text book entitled ‘Waste Treatment and Disposal’ (John Wiley & Sons, 2005).  He has an ‘h’ index of 111 and more than 42,000 citations to his work (Google Scholar).  In addition, he has been awarded 30 EPSRC research grants and numerous industrial research grants, totalling over £15M.  His research work has been honoured by several awards including the Steetley-Magnesia Award, the Redlands Minerals Award, the Lubbock-Sambrook Award and the Distinguished Guest Lecturer Medal by the Environmental Chemistry Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is principal editor of Journal of the Energy Institute. He is also a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals, Environmental Technology, Waste & Biomass Valorization, Biofuels and Fuel. He has supervised 66 PhD students to success.

Research interests

Research concentrates on the development of advanced thermal treatment of wastes and biomass with an emphasis on the development of novel thermal processes and an understanding of the reaction mechanisms.  For example, pyrolysis and gasification of waste biomass, plastics and tires to produce high value products such as syngas, hydrogen, methane, carbon nanotubes, activated carbons, premium grade fuels and chemical feedstocks.  Hydrothermal gasification of biomass and waste plastics has produced hydrogen rich syngas and supercritical water liquefaction of waste plastics has produced a premium grade fuel oil. Incineration of waste has concentrtaed on the reactions and control of the organic micro-pollutants, dioxins and furans. Novel additives have also been researched which can simultaneously control SO₂, HCl and NOx from incinerators and other combustion systems. 

Current postgraduate researchers

• Maryam Khatibi
• Fayez Alshehri
• Jiaxing Song