Chai Liyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), currently serves as Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Vice President of Central South University, and Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Control & Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution. He concurrently chairs the Nonferrous Metallurgical Resources Comprehensive Utilization Committee of the Chinese Society for Metals and serves as Chinese Chair of the International Conference on East Asian Resources Recycling.

 

Academician Chai pioneered revolutionary technologies in nonferrous metallurgy pollution control and resource recovery, including environmentally sound extraction of arsenic-containing polymetallic materials, resource-oriented treatment of smelting waste acids, and purification/reuse systems for heavy metal-contaminated wastewater. His innovations have been implemented in over 200 projects across China's major heavy metal-related enterprises, significantly advancing industrial transformation and green development in the nonferrous sector.

 

His scholarly contributions comprise 290+ SCI publications, 130 authorized Chinese invention patents, and 9 formulated national standards/policies. He has led more than 50 national research initiatives encompassing the National Key R&D Program, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Key Projects of National Natural Science Foundation, sub-projects of the National Major Project for Water Pollution Control and Treatment, and major programs under the 863 Plan, National Sci-Tech Support Program, and Hunan Provincial Key Sci-Tech Special Program.

 

As first completer, he received two Second Prizes of the National Technology Invention Award, one Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and eight First-Class Science & Technology Awards at ministerial/provincial level.