Paul Jensen

Associate Professor Paul Jensen from The University of Queensland is a leading academic in the School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB). With a PhD in Engineering, he specializes in anaerobic biotechnology, resource recovery, and sustainable waste management.

His research focuses on:

• Biogas production from livestock and agricultural waste
• Wastewater nutrient recovery for circular economies
• Bio-plastic and fertilizer synthesis from low-value biomass
• Microbial inhibition dynamics in anaerobic systems

Over the past decade, his 15 most recent publications demonstrate expertise in waste valorization, biofilm reactor design, and anaerobic digestion kinetics, particularly for paunch waste and microalgal biomass. Notable projects include:

• 2025: Alkaline pretreatment of paunch waste for methane optimization
• 2024: Engineering process design curricula for chemical engineering students
• 2023: Hydrothermal treatment economics for sludge-derived fuels
• 2022: Biocomposite development from paunch fibers

His work integrates engineering, biological sciences, and process modeling to deliver real-world solutions for municipal and industrial partners. Current grants include:

• 2024-2025: Pilot-scale Anaerobic Co-digestion at Central SEQ Municipal STP
• 2022-2027: ARC Training Centre in Bioplastics and Biocomposites
• 2021-2025: Sludge-to-resource CRC-P projects

Paul supervises PhD candidates in topics such as anaerobic digestion microbiology, biogas process acceleration, and sewage sludge sustainability, collaborating with experts like Professors Damien Batstone and William Clarke.