Current Affiliation: Lady Trent Professor of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham; Technical Director of Promethean Particles Ltd
Edward Lester is a leading UK expert in fuel combustion characterization, biomass energy conversion and continuous hydrothermal nanomanufacturing, who founded the world’s largest continuous supercritical water nanoparticle production platform through industrial translation of his academic breakthroughs.

He completed his undergraduate study as a marine chemist and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering focusing on fuel microscopic image analysis for combustion performance prediction. After joining the University of Nottingham, he led the Advanced Materials Research Group and solved core technical bottlenecks of continuous supercritical fluid reactors via novel in-line image characterization algorithms. This intellectual property supported the establishment of Promethean Particles at the end of 2007, where he serves as Technical Director to commercialize sustainable nanomaterial production globally.

His dual research track includes energy engineering and green nanomanufacturing. On the energy side, he develops petrographic thermal characterization and particle image analysis methods for coal, biomass and renewable fuels, widely adopted by international power plants for boiler operation and fuel procurement evaluation. On materials side, he pioneers low-cost, environmentally benign hydrothermal and solvothermal routes to synthesize functional nanomaterials including biocompatible hydroxyapatite, magnetic metal oxide nanoparticles and CO₂ capture composites. He holds multiple process patents and regularly delivers invited lectures on circular economy and biomass upcycling technology worldwide.

Edward Lester’s sustained research interests lie in fuel thermal characterization, biomass energy conversion, and sustainable continuous supercritical/hydrothermal synthesis of nanomaterials.