Our Research Center
Advanced Biorefinery Laboratory (ABL) at City University of Hong Kong is committed to developing innovative technologies to valorize biomass and organic solid wastes (agricultural/forestry biomass/residues, yard wastes, food wastes, waste plastics, microalgae, etc.) into energy, fuels, chemicals and materials. Specifically, our research is focused on: (1) cost-effective fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass into cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin; (2) production of bio-polymers/resins from cellulose, lignin or lipid; (3) catalytic conversion of C5/C6 sugars into oxygenated chemicals and C5-C18 alkanes; (3) production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) from biomass and waste plastics; (4) generation of green H2/CH4 from biomass and biowastes via hydrothermal reforming/gasification; (5) chemical utilization of CO2 to produce methanol, formic acid, or polymers; (6) biomass metallurgy.
Our Director
Prof. Charles Chunbao XU, PhD, FCIC, FCAE, FEIC
Prof. Xu is currently Chair Professor of Advanced Biorefinery and Director of Advanced Biorefinery Laboratory (ABL) at School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE) and Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC). He was a professor, the NSERC/FPInnovations Industrial Research Chair in Forest Biorefinery, and Associate Director of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR) at Western University. He has over 20 years of research experience in conversion of biomass and organic solid wastes (forestry/agricultural residues, food wastes, wastewater sludge, microalgae, lignin, glycerol and sugars, etc.) into biofuels (sustainable aviation fuels, green hydrogen) and green chemicals and biopolymer materials. He has authored/edited 3 books on biorefinery, and published 20+ book chapters and 350+ papers in peer-reviewed journals. According to Google Scholar, his work has received over 23,000 total citations with an H-index of 79 to date. With 16 PCT/US/Canadian/Chinese Patents issued/pending, Dr. Xu has made outstanding contributions to applied science and engineering practice. He is the recipient of the 2011 Syncrude Canada Innovation Award and the 2019 Award in Design and Industrial Practice from Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering, and the 2023 Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.