Prof. Yuanhui ZHANG from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was invited to visit the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he gave a lecture titled “Environment-Enhancing Energy and Sustainable Development” on Jun 7. The lecture was hosted by Prof. ZHANG Yang, the leader of the Waste Valorization and Water Reuse Group at QIBEBT. 

In the talk, Yuanhui ZHANG explained his theory of “Environment-Enhancing Energy (E²-Energy)”. Under the circumstances that the agricultural and biofuel production addictively rely on fossil fuel-derived fertilizer, a new paradigm (E²-Energy) and a demonstration lab-scale system have been established at the University of Illinois, with a capacity of 2 gallon/day biocrude oil production from manure and algae (also grown in the manure water treatment system). 

In this system, biowaste is first converted into biocrude oil via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). Secondly, fast-growing algae/bacteria are cultivated in the wastewaters from original liquid waste and HTL reactor to uptake excess nutrients and capture carbon dioxide. Finally, the algae/bacteria will be fed back to the HTL process to be converted into additional biocrude. This has shown that the E²-Energy process can reuse nutrients 3 (by experiment) to 10 (by modeling) times, which amplifies the original biomass by the same factor. 

Yuanhui ZHANG is internationally known for his innovative research in biomass conversion to energy. He was the first researcher to develop the HTL reactor and process that can convert 70 percent of swine manure into crude oil. His work has been widely published in scientific journals, and featured in newspapers (such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune) and on television (Fox News, CNN, NBC, MSN, and BBC). 

Yuanhui ZHANG's visit provided good opportunity for the collaboration between QIBEBT and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.