Professor Ruben Sakrabani
Background
Dr Ruben Sakrabani obtained his first degree in Chemistry from the National University of Malaysia. He obtained the prestigious British High Commissioners Chevening Award to pursue an MSc in Environmental Pollution Control from University of Leeds. After his MSc, he worked for a year at Earth Tech Engineering Ltd as an Assistant Environmental Specialist. He then started his PhD at University of Abertay Dundee and later transferred to University of Bradford. His PhD work was on contaminated sediments. Dr Ruben Sakrabani joined Cranfield University in September 2002 as Lecturer in Soil Chemistry and currently is a Professor. He established his career at Cranfield University over the last 20 years in determining nutrient dynamics in soils associated with application of organic amendments such as compost, manure, slurry, sewage sludge, biochar and digestates. His work explores the resource efficiency and reliability of organic amendments as alternative sources of fertilisers to reduce demand on inorganic fertilisers to promote regenerative agriculture. As a chemist his expertise also lies in the fate and transport of heavy metals and micropollutants in soils. He has an excellent and extensive track record in projects on biosolids application to land in relation to its use as alternative phosphorus fertiliser in the context of organo-mineral fertiliser (OMF) production. His research is closely liaising with large fertiliser companies on projects related to OMF to promote more sustainability in agriculture. He has also developed the first national Phosphate Acceptance Map in England building on his work on OMF. He is also evaluating innovative technologies such as carbon capture and plasma technology to valorise organic materials to produce sustainable fertilisers. He has published in over 80 peer reviewed papers. He is also member of the National Environment Research Council (NERC) Peer Review College and sits within the Advisory Board of Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA). He is technical committee member for the British Standard Institute CII/37 - Fertilisers and related chemicals and the European Committee for Standardization CEN TC 260/WG 8 - Organic and organo-mineral fertilizers.
Research Interests
Chemistry, soil science, soil health, agriculture, fertilisers, circular economy in agriculture