Dr Yue Zhang

Civil Engineering Part 3 Co-ordinator 2019-present

Civil Engineering Individual Project Rep 2019-present

MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Project Rep 2019-present

Environment Labs Academic Lead 2021-present

Dr Zhang’s research lies in the area of environmental sustainability. One of her main interests is anaerobic digestion, for both renewable energy production and organic waste management. During her postdoctoral career she undertook two Defra-funded research contracts on anaerobic digestion. The results have proven critical to the UK Government's plans for this technology, and have already been successfully applied in the commercial sector in the UK.

Her current focus is on microbial aspects of the anaerobic digestion process in order to identify the practical benefits this could give in terms of engineering control of these systems. The fundamental knowledge and understanding gained can be applied both to bioenergy and biofuels production, and in biotechnology for bioproducts. Within this line of research, fatty acid production and extraction from mixed-culture fermentation is being investigated via a number of BBSRC NIBB and Newton Fund projects.

Biomethanisation of CO2 in anaerobic digester is another main research area, supported by IB Catalyst H2AD project ‘Biomethanisation of CO2 in Anaerobic Digestion Plants’ and BBSRC Carbon Recycling Network project ‘Developing the Potential for CO2 Capture and Utilisation in Hybrid Anaerobic Digesters’.

She also retains a great interest in wastewater treatment and pollution remediation. The work carried out on this theme includes adsorption for metal removal, biological nutrient removal and bioelectrochemical systems.