Center for Environmental Research and Technology

Dr. Arun Raju is an Associate Research Engineer and serves as the Associate Director-Operations at CE-CERT. Additionally, he is the director of the Sustainable Fuels Initiative (SFI). His research expertise spans various areas within renewable fuels and chemicals production, with a particular emphasis on hydrogen and renewable methane. Dr. Raju is actively involved in research on renewables integration into the electric grid, waste-to-energy through thermochemical conversion, and energy systems analysis.

His comprehensive approach to research involves life cycle assessment, techno-economic evaluation, and optimization of energy conversion pathways. Dr. Raju earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Riverside, focusing on renewable fuels production and related technologies. Prior to his current role at CE-CERT, he held key positions in the industry, including Director of Research at Viresco Energy, LLC, and later as the Director of Technology Development at Combustion Associates, Inc.

Charles Cai is an Associate Research Faculty at CE-CERT and Adjunct Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at UC Riverside. He is devoted to developing new technologies to convert plant biomass into fuels and functional materials. His primary research focuses on the biological and catalytic processing of agricultural and forestry waste products, also known as lignocellulosic biomass, that don't compete with our food crops so that the production of next generation biofuels can be an environmentally sustainable process.

Charles is currently developing new methods for pulping industrial hemp so that next generation hemp-based and cannibis-based products can be made more cost-effectively, without needing mechanical decortication, and while reducing hazardous waste emissions.

Charles was listed in Forbes Magazine's 30 under 30 in 2017. He is inventor of the patented Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) process and two other patents pending.