Dr Alastair Baker
In the Bourne Group, Alastair worked on the UK Catalysis Hub across two campuses: the GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry (University of Nottingham) and the Institute of Process Research and Development (iPRD, Leeds). The project investigated homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for the valorization of feedstock ethanol and construction of a multifunctional flow platform for high throughput screening. The automated continuous high temperature and high pressure (High T/p) reactor with at-line GC with feedback loop was commissioned and performed Design of Experiments (DoE) matrixes as well as a self-optimising algorithm.
He received his Ph.D. in 2016 from Prifysgol Caerdydd/ Cardiff University upon completing his thesis in developing continuous flow reactors for the continuous synthesis of garlic metabolites, on a joint funded SME Industrial CASE award from Neem Biotech and the Welsh Assembly Government. He also has expertise in synchrotron techniques performed at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), as well as compound synthesis, natural product isolation and characterization, 3D printing and rapid prototyping.
He went on to work in in the Nuclear Engineering group at the University of Leeds investigating the process intensification of solvent extraction using centrifugal contactors. He built the pilot scale centrifugal contactor cascade and multi-scale platform in the Leeds Nuclear Lab. He is now working the in the School of Design building a lab-scale wet spinning rig for recycling clothes. In 2021, he was awarded a Leeds’s Mentor of the Year and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) for lecturing, teaching and training in Higher Education across the UK, validating his track record of teaching in a University environment, with an enthusiastic approach to teaching core and research-led chemical engineering and chemistry topics across all levels.