Roberto Rinaldi

Roberto Rinaldi is a Reader/Associate Professor in Applied Chemistry at Imperial College London, leading the Tomorrow’s Chemical Technologies Lab. His research focuses on sustainable chemistry for the circular economy, particularly heterogeneous catalysis applied to lignin and plant biomass valorization. He holds affiliations with the Energy Futures Lab, Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering, and Ocean Plastic Solutions Network. Rinaldi earned his D.Sc. in Chemistry from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (Germany). He has secured over £3.5M in grants, including the ERC Consolidator Grant and Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. His work spans 90+ publications, 14 patents, and supervision of 17 PhD, 21 MSc students, and 20 postdocs. Research highlights include the 'lignin-first' concept, mechanocatalysis, and chemical recycling of plastics. He serves on editorial boards for journals like Green Chemistry and ChemCatChem.

Education:

• D.Sc., Chemistry/Inorganic Catalysis, UNICAMP (2003–2006)
• BSc, Chemistry, UNICAMP (1999–2003)

Research Interests:

• Lignin valorization via catalytic and mechanochemical approaches
• Development of sustainable biofuels and chemicals from biomass
• Chemical recycling of plastics using novel catalytic systems
• Integration of biorefinery processes for circular economy

Awards:

• ERC Consolidator Grant (2017–2022)
• Sofja Kovalevskaja Award (2010)
• Willi Keim Prize (2014)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2017)

His lab actively recruits self-funded PhD candidates and postdocs, emphasizing innovation in sustainable chemistry. Collaborative grants with organizations like Leverhulme Trust and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation have furthered his research impact.