Hongbin CAO is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also a fellow of the China Society for Environmental Sciences, deputy director of the National Engineering Research Center of Green Recycling for Strategic Metal Resources, and director of the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He has innovatively constructed an efficient pollution-reducing and carbon-reducing technology system for industrial processes, which is centered on the targeted regulation of secondary bonds to enhance separation and integrates the optimization of multiple units at both the production and end stage. This system has been applied in over 150 projects in industries such as lithium battery waste recycling, coal chemical engineering, non-ferrous metals, and steel, achieving significant economic, environmental, and social benefits. He has won the Second Prize of the National Technology Invention Award (2013), the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (2018, 2023), the Special Prize of the Association (2020), and five first prizes from provinces, ministries, societies, and associations. He has also received the Guanghua Engineering Technology Award - Youth Award (2016), the Ho Leung Ho Lee Award for Science and Technological Innovation (2023), and the National Innovation and Excellence Award (2023). His research findings have been published in more than 400 SCI papers in journals such as JACS, ES&T, and WR. He has authored 20 monographs in Chinese and English, obtained 161 authorized invention patents, and registered 9 software copyrights.