Cao Hongbin is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), a fellow of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences (CSES), Deputy Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Green Recycling of Strategic Metal Resources, and Director of the Chemical Chemistry Science Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and a leading talent under the National High-Level Talents Special Support Program.
To address the industrial need for pollution and carbon reduction, he has innovatively established a highly efficient treatment technology model centered on the targeted regulation and enhancement of secondary bonding between molecular and ionic species for separation and recycling, coupled with whole-process optimization. This approach has been implemented in over 150 industrial projects across sectors such as lithium battery solid-waste recycling, coal chemistry, non-ferrous metals, and steel, yielding significant economic, environmental, and social benefits.
His related research findings have been published in over 400 SCI-indexed papers in journals including Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Environmental Science & Technology, and Water Research. He has authored or edited 20 monographs in both Chinese and English, and holds more than 170 authorized invention patents. He also serves as Deputy Director of the Editorial Board of Industrial Water Treatment, and as an editorial board member for journals including Water & Ecology, Green Chemical Engineering, Industrial Chemistry & Materials, China Environmental Science, and China Scientific Data.
As the lead recipient, he has won one second-class National Technological Invention Award, two second-class National Science and Technology Progress Awards, one Special Award from an industry association, and five first-class provincial/ministerial/societal/association awards. He has additionally received the Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award – Youth Award, the Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Innovation Award, the National Innovation Excellence Award Medal, and the World Chemical Engineering Council (WCEC) Research Excellence Award.
