Editor Biographies

Dr Joshua Gorimbo is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Development of Energy for African Sustainability (IDEAS), a research unit at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He received his PhD degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 2017, and then pursued postdoctoral training at UNISA (2018–2020). His research interests are catalysis and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS).

Diane Hildebrandt is a Distinguished Professor for Future Energy at Wits. She is the Director of the International Joint Research Laboratory of New Energy at Hebei University of Science and Technology and the Director of Keqiao Green Energy Materials Joint Laboratory, Zhijiang College of Zhejiang University of Technology. Both of these laboratories are situated in China. Diane Hildebrandt obtained her BSc, MSc and PhD from the Wits. She has authored or coauthored over 210 scientific papers, including an invited paper in Science, and has supervised over 100 postgraduate students. Her research area is the design of energy-efficient processes, with a view to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. She is particularly interested in how she can apply the results of her research to improving the lives of those who do not have access to energy and clean water. This involves working with multidisciplinary teams to understand the social, economic and technological barriers to the adoption of new technologies. Her approach to research is both academic and entrepreneurial.

Prof. Xinying Liu is the head of the catalysis research group at IDEAS. He received his PhD from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 1999. His field of study was carbon dioxide utilization. Prof. Liu is an expert in the field of catalytic and nano inorganic materials for energy applications, especially in relation to FTS.  He also has 20 years of industrial experience in the carbonaceous material indirect liquefaction process (XTL process), in pilot-scale XTL facility design and operation, and small- and medium-scale XTL plant design (process modeling, conceptual and basic engineering). He has expanded his research into various other renewable energy solutions that are suitable for off-grid and rural applications, especially biomass hybrid solutions with concentrated solar power. He is the codirector of the International Joint Research Laboratory of New Energy at the Hebei University of Science and Technology.

Prof. Yali Yao is a professor at the Institute for the Development of Energy for African Sustainability (IDEAS) at UNISA. She received her PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa (2011). She continued her research work at Wits in a postdoctoral fellowship position from 2012 to 2013. She began her employment career as a Senior Researcher at UNISA in May 2013. She was promoted to the position of Associate Professor at IDEAS, a research institute at UNISA, in October 2017, and then to full professor in February 2022. She has completed more than 15 years of experimental work in the field of producing alternative fuels and value-added chemicals via FTS (XTL/FTS), in both laboratory and industrial projects. Her research areas include alternative energy solutions, crude oil purification and C₁ chemistry.