Rate My Professor Yun Yu

Dr. Yun Yu is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University, affiliated with the WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering from Curtin University in 2010. After completing his doctorate, he worked as a Research Associate from 2010 to 2012 and held an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship from 2013 to 2015 in the School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Since 2016, he has served as Senior Lecturer in the WA School of Mines. Yu co-leads the Advanced Fuel and Energy Lab and has supervised 10 PhD students to completion while mentoring others.

Yu's research centers on bioenergy and biofuels, with expertise in advanced thermochemical processing of biomass and waste materials for low-carbon fuels and energy applications, including biomass thermochemical conversion, waste utilisation, pyrolysis, combustion, and hydrothermal processing. He has authored over 100 journal papers, garnering more than 5,900 citations on Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'Insights into the Primary Decomposition Mechanism of Cellobiose under Hydrothermal Conditions' (2014), 'A review on biomass pyrolysis models: Kinetic, network and mechanistic models' (2019), 'Tuning glucose decomposition in hot-compressed gamma-valerolactone/water mixtures: From isomerization to dehydration reactions' (2019), 'Catalytic Decomposition Mechanisms of Glucose and Fructose over Solid Acid Catalysts' (2015), and 'Hydrothermal Reactions of Biomass-Derived Platform Molecules' (2023). His work has secured over A$4 million in research grants, including a recent ARC Discovery project on converting mixed plastic waste into sustainable jet fuel. Yu has received the ARC DECRA Award, Publons Peer Review Award, and Energy & Fuels Excellence in Review Award (2023). He serves as Associate Editor for Energy & Fuels, contributing to the field's editorial standards and knowledge dissemination.