This laboratory was established in the fall of 1990 by State Education Commission supported by the World Bank Loan. There are two divisions in this laboratory: division of biological secondary resources (renewable resources) and division of industrial secondary resources.
This laboratory is a unique research centre in the field of secondary resources chemical engineering in China. There are many experimental equipments and instruments for chemical reaction, biological reaction, separation and purification, relevant to the R&D of resources recycling and comprehensive utilization. There is a pilot plant in the laboratory as well. This laboratory can provide full technological support for industry.
This laboratory specializes in R&D from laboratory up to industrial scale of resources conversion and comprehensive utilization. The main projects are conversion and utilization of secondary resources produced in mineral resources processing, e.g., by-products and wastes, by using special reactions and modern separation techniques; extraction and purification of potent ingredients in renewable resources; conversion of plant cellulose to new energy source.
In recent years, this laboratory concentrated on the comprehensive utilization of plant and animal secondary resources, particularly on the extraction and purification of medicine ingredients, developmemt of optimal synthesis of unit operations and novel separation processes. Great achievements have been made in renewable resources comprehensive utilization, R&D of biochemical separation processes, synthesis of bulk pharmaceuticals and intermediates, adsorption separation, and large scale chromatographic separation, etc.
There are 5 professors and 16 research staff members in the laboratory. The enrollment of graduate students is around 50, among them 17 are doctorate students. The Academic Executive is Professor Peilin Cen. The Director is Professor Shanjing Yao.