Driving the transition to cleaner fuels and sustainable chemicals
Professor Jude Onwudili
Jude Onwudili is a Professor of Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals and Co-Director of Aston University’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI).
“At Aston, we’ve built a reputation for turning complex science into real solutions, quickly and reliably. Industry partners know that when they come to us, we deliver.”
Professor Jude Onwudili is an established academic and researcher in chemical engineering at Aston, working at the forefront of the global green energy transition. As Industrial Research Lead at EBRI, Jude’s team drives world-class research into all aspects of bioenergy and sustainable chemicals. Together with industrial partners, he is delivering energy solutions that can transform entire communities, industries and economies.
Jude’s journey into science began not within the confines of a classroom, but through early, hands-on encounters with the natural environment in Nigeria. From an early age, Jude cultivated a deep and lasting appreciation for the natural world, which continues to inform his scientific perspective. When he began studying chemistry and physics at school, he started recognising connections between the natural world around him and the science in his textbooks. Driven by a quiet ambition, Jude earned a first-class degree and won a prestigious Ford Foundation scholarship to study abroad.
His PhD at the University of Leeds focused on chemical and process engineering, a field that resonated with his core values while allowing him to explore new ways to convert organic wastes into chemicals and clean fuels. He later joined Aston University, drawn by its strong legacy in bioenergy and sustainability.
“Studying chemical sciences and engineering gave me a way to connect science with the natural world around me, and my research now focuses on tackling climate change by developing new sustainable fuels.”
Transforming glass production with low-carbon fuel
With deep expertise in sustainable energy and industrial decarbonisation, Jude recently played a pivotal role in ongoing goal to reduce fossil fuel use in the UK’s glass industry through a project with the Aston University-hosted Supergen Bioenergy Hub and the membership R&D organisation Glass Futures.
Faced with the urgent need to decarbonise glass production, a process that requires furnace temperatures of up to 1700°C, Glass Futures needed robust evidence-based guidance to identify fossils fuel alternatives that would work without changing existing infrastructure. Working closely with industrial partners, Jude’s team stepped in to provide exactly that.
The team evaluated a suite of waste-derived biofuels and through rigorous testing identified pyrolysis-derived bio-oil as the most viable drop-in replacement to fossil fuel. Based on their findings, Glass Futures and its partners reconfigured UK glass furnaces to run on this new fuel, which is now being sourced at scale.
These findings didn’t just shape a single trial, but helped build the business case for fuel switching and formed the foundation for a decarbonisation strategy across the UK’s glass sector.
“We guided industry to make a critical decision about which fossil fuel alternative would work best at an industrial scale, so glass production can be fit for a sustainable future.”
Fostering inclusive innovation through trust and leadership
By providing the evidence base for decarbonisation, Jude's research is shaping national energy strategy across sectors where cutting emissions is particularly difficult.
Since joining Aston University, Jude has benefited from the EBRI’s inclusive and collaborative environment. Its visionary leadership and collaborative approach has empowered him to pursue bold, interdisciplinary projects that connect engineering with social and environmental challenges.
Working with colleagues across academia and industry, Jude has carved out a space for applied, community-focused research. As well as working with UK partners like Ofwat to develop low-carbon fuels from biowaste, he also develops and champions clean energy solutions for underrepresented farming and off-grid communities across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
“Thanks to inclusive and supportive leaders, I’ve found the freedom and encouragement to turn great ideas into real solutions for the communities that need them most.”
Transforming agricultural waste into clean fuels and power for Nigeria and Indonesia
In 2023, Jude turned his sights to Indonesia’s remote, off-grid communities, where rice straw, a byproduct of rice production, is burned in open fields and contributes to pollution and carbon emissions. Working with an international team of engineers, entrepreneurs, and grassroots organisations, Jude is helping to turn this overlooked waste into something transformative – electricity.
The project emerged from an earlier collaboration with PyroGenesys Ltd, an ambitious company founded by Jude’s former MEng and PhD students, which develops technology to convert sustainable biomass waste into fuel. Jude played a pivotal role in forming the consortium that brought together PyroGenesys with rice straw harvester Straw Innovations, and engine developer Carnot Limited, to design and deploy a new local energy system powered by bio-oil from rice straw waste.
Aston University’s role is pivotal: Jude’s team leads the upgrading of bio-oil to a cleaner-burning fuel that can power homes and communities. By creating value from agricultural waste, the project supports sustainable development while offering a cleaner, locally sourced alternative to diesel.
“We're turning environmental waste problems into solutions: clean, local energy for off-grid communities, proving that waste can power a better future.”
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