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A proposed biomass char classification system (2018)
Journal Article
Lester, E., Avila, C., Pang, C. H., Williams, O., Perkins, J., Gaddipatti⁠, S., …Wu, T. (2018). A proposed biomass char classification system. Fuel, 232, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2018.05.153

A new classification system is proposed for the morphological characterisation of char structures from biomass. These char structures are unlike the coal chars that have an established nomenclature via the International Committee of Coal and Organic... Read More about A proposed biomass char classification system.

A review of the environmental impact of nanomaterial synthesis using continuous flow hydrothermal synthesis (2018)
Journal Article
Caramazana, P., Dunne, P., Gimeno-Fabra, M., McKechnie, J., & Lester, E. (2018). A review of the environmental impact of nanomaterial synthesis using continuous flow hydrothermal synthesis. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 12, 57-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2018.06.016

Continuous flow hydrothermal synthesis (CFHS) is an emerging process technology for the manufacture of nanomaterials. Recent work has been undertaken to establish the green ‘credentials’ of CFHS amongst alternative techniques for nanosynthesis. In th... Read More about A review of the environmental impact of nanomaterial synthesis using continuous flow hydrothermal synthesis.

A techno-economic assessment of the potential for combining supercritical water oxidation with ‘in-situ’ hydrothermal synthesis of nanocatalysts using a counter current mixing reactor (2018)
Journal Article
Al-Atta, A., Huddle, T., Rodríguez, Y. G., Mato, F., García-Serna, J., Cocero, M. J., …Lester, E. (2018). A techno-economic assessment of the potential for combining supercritical water oxidation with ‘in-situ’ hydrothermal synthesis of nanocatalysts using a counter current mixing reactor. Chemical Engineering Journal, 344, 431-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.03.058

A combined process of supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) and supercritical water hydrothermal synthesis (SCWHS) in a continuous counter current reactor is reported. Acrylic acid was used as a model unsaturated carboxylic acid compound and the effec... Read More about A techno-economic assessment of the potential for combining supercritical water oxidation with ‘in-situ’ hydrothermal synthesis of nanocatalysts using a counter current mixing reactor.

Development of a petrographic technique to assess the spontaneous combustion susceptibility of Indian coals (2017)
Journal Article
Mohalik, N., Lester, E., & Lowndes, I. (in press). Development of a petrographic technique to assess the spontaneous combustion susceptibility of Indian coals. International Journal of Coal Preparation and Utilization, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392699.2017.1360874

Petrographic studies are commonly used categorise the potential utilisation of coals. Eleven coal samples from the jharia coalfield (JCF), india, were studied using petrographic techniques to investigate maceral content, reflectance, and textural cha... Read More about Development of a petrographic technique to assess the spontaneous combustion susceptibility of Indian coals.

Benefits of dry comminution of biomass pellets in a knife mill (2017)
Journal Article
Williams, O., Lester, E., Kingman, S., Giddings, D., Lormor, S., & Eastwick, C. (in press). Benefits of dry comminution of biomass pellets in a knife mill. Biosystems Engineering, 160, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2017.05.011

The potential benefits of dry comminution in a knife mill for a diverse range of biomass 6 pellets are explored. The impact of dry comminution on energy consumption, particle size and shape, 7 is examined as well as the link between milling and mecha... Read More about Benefits of dry comminution of biomass pellets in a knife mill.

Overcoming the caking phenomenon in olive mill wastes (2017)
Journal Article
Williams, O., Eastwick, C., Kingman, S., Giddings, D., Lormor, S., & Lester, E. (2017). Overcoming the caking phenomenon in olive mill wastes. Industrial Crops and Products, 101, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2017.02.036

The use of olive mill wastes (orujillo) within coal fired power stations in the UK has led to unexpected difficulties with material caking within the fuel handling plant. This study replicated orujillo caking on a laboratory scale using a planetary b... Read More about Overcoming the caking phenomenon in olive mill wastes.

Improved quantification of curvature in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy lattice fringe micrographs of soots (2017)
Journal Article

Soot affects climate change and human health. Its structure is influenced by fuel and combustion conditions. Image analysis of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy lattice fringes indicates curvature is common and impacts reactivity. Here... Read More about Improved quantification of curvature in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy lattice fringe micrographs of soots.

Assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of titania nanoparticle production by continuous flow solvo/hydrothermal synthesis (2017)
Journal Article
Caramazana-Gonzalez, P., Dunne, P. W., Gimeno-Fabra, M., Zilka, M., Ticha, M., Stieberova, B., …Lester, E. (in press). Assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of titania nanoparticle production by continuous flow solvo/hydrothermal synthesis. Green Chemistry, 19, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6GC03357A

Continuous-flow hydrothermal and solvothermal syntheses offer substantial advantages over conventional processes, producing high quality materials from a wide range of precursors. In this study, we evaluate the “cradle-to-gate” life cycle environment... Read More about Assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of titania nanoparticle production by continuous flow solvo/hydrothermal synthesis.

Application of ZnO nanoparticles in a self-cleaning coating on a metal panel: an assessment of environmental benefits (2017)
Journal Article
Stieberova, B., Zilka, M., Ticha, M., Freiberg, F., Caramazana-Gonzalez, P., McKechnie, J., & Lester, E. (2017). Application of ZnO nanoparticles in a self-cleaning coating on a metal panel: an assessment of environmental benefits. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 5(3), 2493-2500. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02848

This article is focused on assessing environmental benefits of a self-cleaning coating (SCCs) containing nanoparticles (NPs) applied on metal panels. ZnO NPs are incorporated in the coating to enhance the level of hydrophobicity, which enables a dram... Read More about Application of ZnO nanoparticles in a self-cleaning coating on a metal panel: an assessment of environmental benefits.

Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from spontaneous combustion/fire of coal in opencast mines – Indian context (2016)
Journal Article
Mohalik, N., Lester, E., Lowndes, I., & Singh, V. (in press). Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from spontaneous combustion/fire of coal in opencast mines – Indian context. Carbon Management, 7(5-6), https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2016.1249216

There are a significant number of uncontrolled coal mine fires (primarily due to spontaneous combustion of coal), which are currently burning all over the world. These spontaneous combustion sources emit greenhouse gases (GHGs). A critical review rev... Read More about Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from spontaneous combustion/fire of coal in opencast mines – Indian context.

Review of experimental methods to determine spontaneous combustion susceptibility of coal – Indian context (2016)
Journal Article
Mohalik, N., Lester, E., & Lowndes, I. (in press). Review of experimental methods to determine spontaneous combustion susceptibility of coal – Indian context. International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment, 31(5), https://doi.org/10.1080/17480930.2016.1232334

This paper presents a critical review of the different techniques developed to investigate the susceptibility of coal to spontaneous combustion and fire. These methods may be sub-classified into the two following areas: (1) Basic coal characterisatio... Read More about Review of experimental methods to determine spontaneous combustion susceptibility of coal – Indian context.

Influence of mill type on densified biomass comminution (2016)
Journal Article
Williams, O., Newbolt, G., Eastwick, C., Kingman, S. W., Giddings, D., Lormor, S., & Lester, E. (2016). Influence of mill type on densified biomass comminution. Applied Energy, 182, 219-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.111

The impact of different mill fracture mechanisms were examined for a wide range of densified biomass pellets to provide a comprehensive analysis of biomass milling behaviour for pulverised fuel combustion. The milling behaviour of 7 woody, herbaceous... Read More about Influence of mill type on densified biomass comminution.

Understanding bottom-up continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles using empirical measurement and computational simulation (2016)
Journal Article
Sierra-Pallares, J., Huddle, T., García-Serna, J., Alonso, E., Mato, F., Shvets, I., …Lester, E. (2016). Understanding bottom-up continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles using empirical measurement and computational simulation. Nano Research, 9(11), 3377-3387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1215-6

Continuous hydrothermal synthesis was highlighted in a recent review as an enabling technology for the production of nanoparticles. In recent years, it has been shown to be a suitable reaction medium for the synthesis of a wide range of nanomaterials... Read More about Understanding bottom-up continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles using empirical measurement and computational simulation.

Impact of mill type on biomass mill behavior (2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Williams, O., Eastwick, C., Lester, E., Giddings, D., & Lormor, S. (in press). Impact of mill type on biomass mill behavior.

With increasing use of biomass in pulverized fuel coal fired power stations, the impact of mill type on biomass size and shape is fundamental in optimizing mill and burner performance. The impact of mill type on the energy consumption, particle size... Read More about Impact of mill type on biomass mill behavior.

Large-scale continuous hydrothermal production and activation of ZIF-8 (2015)
Journal Article
Munn, A., Dunne, P. W., Tang, S., & Lester, E. (2015). Large-scale continuous hydrothermal production and activation of ZIF-8. Chemical Communications, 51(64), 12811-12814. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cc04636j

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015. A new method for the large-scale hydrothermal production and activation of ZIF-8 is presented in this communication. Activated ZIF-8 has been produced, at lab-scale and pilot-scale, at a rate of 27 g h-1 and 810... Read More about Large-scale continuous hydrothermal production and activation of ZIF-8.

Investigation into the applicability of Bond Work Index (BWI) and Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) tests for several biomasses compared to Colombian La Loma coal (2015)
Journal Article
Williams, O., Eastwick, C., Kingman, S., Giddings, D., Lormor, S., & Lester, E. (2015). Investigation into the applicability of Bond Work Index (BWI) and Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) tests for several biomasses compared to Colombian La Loma coal. Fuel, 158, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2015.05.027

With increasing quantities of biomass being combusted in coal fired power stations, there is an urgent need to be able to predict the grindability of biomass in existing coal mills, but currently no standard biomass grindability test exists. In this... Read More about Investigation into the applicability of Bond Work Index (BWI) and Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) tests for several biomasses compared to Colombian La Loma coal.

The impact of moisture on the milling behavior of different biomasses (2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Williams, O., Eastwick, C., Lester, E., Giddings, D., & Byrne, N. (2014). The impact of moisture on the milling behavior of different biomasses.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of moisture content on the milling behaviour of four different biomasses commonly used in the power sector and characterise their milling behaviour in a laboratory scale planetary ball mill. As received... Read More about The impact of moisture on the milling behavior of different biomasses.