Dr Fanran Meng

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Sustainable Chemical Engineering

Fanran Meng
Profile picture of Fanran Meng
f.meng@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Fanran Meng
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
G18
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

I graduated from China Central South University in 2013 with a BEng (Hons) in Materials Science and Engineering. I completed my PhD in Materials Engineering and Materials Design at the University of Nottingham in 2017. After this, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Materials and Energy Technologies at the University of Nottingham and then a Research Associate in Resource Efficiency and Sustainability Fellow at the University of Cambridge.

In 2023, I joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor).

My research focuses on resource efficiency and engineering sustainability driving reductions in environmental impacts and the development of sustainable engineering practices. My research applies and develops whole systems approaches (process simulation, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis with optimisation algorithm) to complex engineering systems to better understand the transition towards a low carbon economy. I have published ~30 research papers in top journals in sustainable engineering such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Nature Climate Change, Environmental Science & Technology, and Resources Conservation and Recycling.

Research interests

My research focuses on resource efficiency and engineering sustainability driving reductions in environmental impacts and the development of sustainable engineering practices. My research applies and develops whole systems approaches (process simulation, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis with optimisation algorithm) to sustainable material and energy systems to better understand the transition towards a low carbon economy. Ongoing work covers a wide range of materials, renewable energy, petrochemical and transportation sectors, e.g. carbon fibre composite recycling, wind turbine blades, lithium-ion EV batteries and plastics supply chain

Research topics

  • Sustainable Materials
  • Plastics and chemicals
  • Carbon Fibre Composite Recycling and Reuse
  • Managing End-of-life Wind Turbine Wastes
  • Net zero technologies
  • Material Flow Analysis
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Techno-economic Analysis
Publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

  • Meng F, McKechnie J & Pickering SJ (2017) Towards a circular economy for end-of-life carbon fibre composite materials via fluidised bed process. ICCM International Conferences on Composite Materials, Vol. 2017-August RIS download Bibtex download
  • Pickering SJ, Turner TA, Meng F, Morris CN, Heil JP, Wong KH & Melendi S (2015) Developments in the fluidised bed process for fibre recovery from thermoset composites. CAMX 2015 - Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (pp 2384-2394) RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Grants
  • The Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme – Cost Share Programme 2021, Multi-scale simulation of the interaction between climate change and road asphalt concrete material recycling system.
  • Life cycle assessment and technoeconomic analysis for Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Wilson Biochemicals Ltd. 
  • Saudi Aramco, Impacts of life cycle-based regulations on light-duty fleet GHG emissions