Providing everyone on the planet with sufficient energy and water is an unprecedented challenge, which will only increase with a growing population unless we find new ways of meeting this challenge. One solution, says Andreas Hornung, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Aston University, is to use biomass residue (e.g. waste wood, sewage sludge, et al) as an energy source.

Professor Hornung, who is also Head of the European Bioenergy Research Institute, has major research interests in pyrolysis processes from micro-scale to technical application, and in the thermo-chemical treatment of biomass.